John G. Avildsen, before becoming the respectable director of uplifting "climb to victory" tales like ROCKY and 8 SECONDS, made this scattershot counterculture comedy about sex and suburbia. Like many movies of this period, including Brian DePalma's GREETINGS and Aram Avakian's END OF THE ROAD, the movie clumsily copies the jump-cutting, "fourth wall" breaking, and blackout staging of Jean-Luc Godard's inflential films previous to this, which may have seemed daring but serves now only to alienate the initial viewer of today. While there is the hint of a plot -- a community's resistence to sex education -- ultimately this is a clothesline to hang running gags: a too-vigilant vice cop, a suburban mom who talks in TV commercial jargon, a sheltered teen attracted to his babysitter, etc. Some gags are effective, others tedious. What does hold up in this movie is the actual sex education advice provided by the would-be visiting educator. It is honest, direct, and still relevant today. It stands out amid the ham-handed comedy antics. However, the message loses some effectiveness among the easy stereotyping of the middle-aged "squares." One cannot ask everything to be written as dryly and facutal as the average ABC Afterschool Special, but a little more realism and a little less condescending caricature would have given this the kind of longetivity that would make it better known, instead of the curious video obscurity it is now. Recommended primarily to those either nostalgic or curious about the early '70's.
