Sex Appeal

Another teen rom/com. It has its funny parts, and makes you feel.

But, it also does what so many Hollywood movies/shows are making a habit of.

Using young 21+ adults to play HS kids with sex/love stories. Trying to normalize HS teens having sex, without using teens.

Sex appeal is the story of an high IQ girl who wants to develop an app that calculates how to have sex to win a contest. The typical "gender roles" are switched here- with the female being cold , calculating toward sex and the man being emotional and attached.

The problem with this movie is it really isn't funny and very cringeworthy. So many scenes feature just awful dialogue and writing. The biggest issue here is that the characters don't feel like real people. It makes it more difficult to get invested in the story and makes the 'drama' feel less impactful when it ultimately happens.

That being said the acting is actually quite good. Mika Abdalla absolutely shines as Avery , our main character and gives it her all for what she has to work with. She definitely saves this movie from being a mess along with a pace that keeps things moving along. I wasn't bored with it I just ultimately felt like it needed to be something else.

6/10 - the cringe is real (some really bad dialogue and like 3 extended weird sexual "metaphor" screens) in this Hulu original film, but between that hilarious classroom scene (quadratic formula and all) and a surprisingly nuanced conclusion, this one managed to win me over.

"Sometimes you have to learn to fail to grow." "Well, you didn't fail. I mean, that's a B. And your grade won't be compromised with a 105 average."

Surprisingly charming and a film I wish was around when I was a teenager. Yeah, it's a little preachy but the fact that no other teen comedies focused on sex take the time to fully analyze themes like this has convinced me to overlook that.

I forgot Jake Short existed until I saw his face and it was like every single episode of ANT Farm flashed before my eyes. He's witty and engaging and probably gives one of the better performances in the film, besides the trio of Moms- including Fortune Feimster and Margaret Cho as divorced co-parents. Lead Mika Abdalla was good as well, but some of the more subtle traits of her character got lost along the way.

By far the biggest surprise is the direction. Talia Osteen really did a good job in making this C-level teen comedy- VERY reminiscent of the early 2000s- stand out in style and heart. The writing could have used some editing, but overall this could have been a roaring dumpster fire and I actually didn't mind it!

It's that type of cringe that makes you laugh in a good way.

Teaches great lessons about sex and love, specially about consent.

Would be a solid 7 if it wasn't for the ending, which I didn't like... :(