Originally posted on 7/27/20
Ever wonder what would happen if you had a "real doll"...that was TOO real? No? So, it's just me? Okay...well, anyway, it's an interesting thing to ponder, which SEX AND THE FUTURE (2020) does in amusingly comedic sci-fi style.
Imagine what would've happened if the guys from WEIRD SCIENCE had made Kelly LeBrock sex robots and marketed them and made millions of dollars. Brilliant but nerdy inventor Barry (Chris Markle), who dreams of losing his virginity, does the inventing while his smooth roommate Evan (Phillip Crum), an aspiring actor who measures happiness by the number of Instagram followers he has, does the marketing.
Meanwhile in a Middle Eastern kingdom, Prince Fahad (Fahad Olayan) runs away from his overprotective parents and, along with faithful bodyguard Khalid (Andy Kenareki), makes his way to L.A. to become an action movie star.
The trouble is, Fahad looks closer to Quasimodo than Cary Grant (facial warts, unibrow, and all), but has been forbidden to look at mirrors all his life while being told that he is incredibly handsome.
Prince Fahad, in his own naive, clumsily well-meaning way, is a very endearing character who, despite thinking that he's God's gift to women, isn't the slightest bit conceited about it. In fact, he's the film's least selfish and self-centered character, and is always concerned with the feelings of others.
Evan, on the other hand, lets success go straight to his head, taking all the credit, fame, and wealth and becoming a media superstar while Barry is cast aside (shades of Seth Green's "Napster" in THE ITALIAN JOB).
While Fahad courts Evan's acting classmate Steph (Maxi Witrak), a feminist who ends up picketing the robot factory, and Evan falls in love with Barry's beautiful cousin Vanessa (Lena Escandon), the increasingly mad Barry plots a devastating revenge that will ruin his former friend in ways that neither he nor we can even begin to imagine.
Although most filmmakers would've played this material as a wildly outlandish, frenetic farce, directors Luis Carlos Hueck (who wrote the script) and Ethan Zvi "The Don Kap" Kaplan just let it play out as a pleasantly diverting and amusingly comedic sci-fi story that leans a bit more toward character development, an interesting plot, and intriguing sci-fi elements than a succession of belly laughs.
Even so, the film's snappy pace and editing have a nice cartoon-like quality, with some eye-pleasing cinematography (especially in the drone-cam establishing shots). Performances are uniformly good, with special kudos going to Fahad Olayan as the sweetly likable lug Prince Fahad.
The musical score itself is a series of catchy hip-hop and techno songs, mostly by "The Don Kap", that are funny because they're so deliberately dumb.
While some viewers may dismiss it as lightweight and even lightheaded, SEX AND THE FUTURE struck me as a bright, breezily amusing comedy that manages just the right blend of "what if?" sci-fi and surreal silliness.
Buy it at Indican Pictures
TECH SPECS
Runtime: 80 minutes
Format: 1:78 HD
Sound: Dolby Sr.
Country: USA
Language: English (w/available subtitles)
Extras: Indican trailers
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