Yes, it’s about phone sex and it would be easy to say that it just follows the trend of talking about sex as much and as crudely as possible in today’s romantic comedies (such as "Wedding Crashers," "Bridesmaids," Judd Apatow movies, etc.). However, I think it’s done better than any of those movies.
Justin Long is hilarious as a gay friend Jesse who brings two women, Lauren and Katie together because they both need a roommate in New York. He tells Lauren, “You’re my favorite girl…you’re like a Subway gift card.” As he’s selling Lauren the bedroom, he states while skipping around, “This is a bedroom, or is it? Or is it a dance studio? I don’t know. There’s so much space here…The windows with the light coming in, it’s like living on the sun.” Then he sits the two women on the couch and states, “You guys can take this place from nursing home to let’s nurse some cocktails at home, right?”—and that’s just some of his lines from one scene.
The flashback to the nineties sums up the two women’s differences in two seconds-- one girl is listening to Lisa Loeb and mentioning watching "Felicity" while the other one looks like Brittany Spears in her first video wearing a short red pleated skirt.
One of my favorite parts would be when one roommate is going on a first date with one of the sex-phone callers (Max Webber!) and the other roommate puts together a “date rape totebag” for her with bug spray because she couldn’t find mace or pepper spray.
The script is clever—I’d definitely be proud if I wrote it. Being able to talk about sex lets both characters experience the real thing better (one in the future probably), so it’s not portrayed as degrading in this movie, it’s liberating. Of course, you’d have to willingly suspend your belief there—but once you do, you’ll have a lot of fun. Nia Vardalos, Seth Rogen, and Kevin Smith all have cameos. Of course, I’m usually so happy to see any movie that takes place in New York City—New York City is my favorite character in a movie—so I was happy from the first establishing shot.
The two women give really good performances, Ari Graynor in one-piece jumpsuits (weird) and Lauren Miller in a striped puffy dress like the Dior one Jean Seberg wore in Breathless. Ari Graynor kind of reminds me of Goldie Hawn and Lauren Miller is like…an almost Parker Posey, maybe? Both were refreshing. The Guardian called it “Nine to Five with dildos”—ha!
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