Young People Fucking

Director Martin Guero knows that the title of his first film, YOUNG PEOPLE F#@KING, is brash enough to grab anyone's attention. It could be misconstrued as a title meant to entice lonely, older men to weekend matinees but in an effort to dissuade these "gentlemen", I will tell you the people in question here aren't that young. These particular people are all in their mid to late 20's, all relatively white and all essentially straight. This does not bode well for this self-professed modern exploration of what it means to be a player in their prime in today's supposedly kinky sexual playing field. Still, you can feel Guero smiling from behind the camera, content with himself for telling it like it is. Only Guero's idea of today's sexual experience is so steeped in convention that it is anything but provocative.

To make his film even less reverent, Guero divides his young people into perfectly constructed boxes. These particular groupings are so well established in the public's vernacular that Guero doesn't need to spend any time establishing any actual history in his characters. Who has time for the human touch though when you're talking about humans touching? A couple, two friends, two exes, two people on their first date and two roommates all find themselves in the throws of passion, or at least the throws of pastime, on one very busy night in one undisclosed city. Now, I'm warning you. The following may be too shocking to handle. The couple, well they have gotten bored with their sex life and now barely have any sex at all. The people on their first date are saying a bunch of things just to get into each other's pants. Even the friends are hesitant that if they were to have sex, it might somehow change the friendship they have relied on platonically for years. By reducing his characters to such tired clichés, Guero has crafted a hollow exploration of caricature rather than an actual character study.

Who knew that sex could have such a giant impact on people and relationships? Oh, right, everyone knew that already. Sex is the ultimate complicating factor and the definitive line that only occasionally warrants crossing. Should friends cross it? Should exes? How about strangers? No matter who you are, both alone and together, before you cross it, you will be changed once you do, no matter how many lies you tell yourself to con your mind into making a supposedly sound decision. You take that step, leave the planet for a while if you're lucky and land on your feet if you're even luckier still, a changed person for having taken the risk. Simply put, sex is big. YOUNG PEOPLE F@#KING however, is nowhere near as monumental as that and you'll forget it by the time the condom is off.

You certainly don't know what to expect with a title like YPF. Maybe some soft-core action? What you get from this movie is so much more than what you thought.

It is five separate stories: two exes getting together, a first date, a married couple who have lost the spark, BFFs, and two roommates with a girl. Five separate stories that come together in a way you would not expect.

Yes, it's about sex, and it's about twenty-somethings, but it is also much much deeper. It is about expectations and relationships and being open to new experience. Sometimes things don't work out, and sometimes they work out in ways that blow your mind.

It is seriously funny.

I actually really liked 'YPF' and despite its title, I'm sure it would've been more mainstream. Though, not perfect, it was somewhat original in its story telling of 5 couples and the different degrees/steps of making love (to put it nicely.) A lot of the stories were hilarious and I especially liked the married couple and definitely the kinky roommate threesome. The other three were interesting enough, and I did like the outcome of the Eric Bana-type's fate, but I liked it most when it strolled back to the married couple's discovery of boredom and how to overcome and a jerky roommate's desire to please his girlfriend while watching his very well endowed roommate bed her. In one night, in one "could happen anywhere" city, the story jumps between different scenarios while labeling the basic levels of sexual activity. The five are: a playboy and the new office girl, ex's reconnecting, a drained married couple, two roommates and a girl and, finally, best friends trying to take it to the next level. The movie is filled with complete eye candy, for both males and females. I should say, more accurately, all the females are stunning and as for the males, they really show diversity: from geeks to studs. While it only revolves around Caucasians, and homosexuals are left out, there's a little bit for everyone. And I say homosexuals are left out, as in no one's gay, but the roommate situation borderlines it. That is probably why I liked that story the best as they didn't just throw in the token gay couple, but they put people very open and not afraid of what society says they should be. Some of the writing and acting seems forced, for the most part it was entertaining, surprising and downright hilarious at times.

Excellent movie in my opinion. It manages to do a real cross-section of these days' sex-life (because, keep in mind, this is the sex-life of today that we are talking about), being at the same time funny, warm an exciting. The writers and director obviously got to some point the idea that this is going to work only if, as Shakespeare said, to their own selves they would be true. Hence the result. Hell, it's a masterpiece itself the fact that they make a movie that contains in the title, about and featuring f@#king and still the end result is not a porno, but something so deeply human and true as this movie. Being in some of these situations myself at one point or another in life, I can guarantee for the accuracy of the situations depicted :) 9/10

Five relationships are depicted as they try to have sex. Best Friends Matt and Kristen try to be friends with benefits. The Couple Andrew and Abby are trying get some excitement back into their sex life. The Exes Mia and Eric try an one night stand. The First Date has Jamie bringing his date ladies man Ken back to her apartment. The Roommates has Gord and Inez inviting his tired well-hung roommate Dave to join them.

These are superficially drawn characters. I like the actors which keeps my interest to some extent. However the movie is not that compelling and definitely not as funny as it wants to be. The Roommates section is definitely trying way too hard. The Best Friends and The Couple are the two that has the best comedic potential. Also if each story is expanded, they would probably be the most compelling ones. The concept is highly questionable and the writing needs to be much better. There has to be a connection between the stories other than the stale title cards.