Sex addiction is the topic of director Stuart Blumberg's earnest serio-comedy focusing on three male sexaholics in Manhattan. After five years in celibate recovery, sensitive Adam (Mark Ruffalo), an environmental consultant, is urged by his sponsor, Mike (Tim Robbins), to start dating again with the goal of establishing intimacy. At a food-adventurers dinner, he meets preening, phony Phoebe (Gwyneth Paltrow), a breast cancer survivor and anorexic fitness fanatic whose previous boyfriend was an alcoholic. Despite her alleged wariness of men with addictive tendencies, she strips down to lacy lingerie and lap-dances for him, noting that she's a very sexual person and needs to express that side of herself. Meanwhile, Mike has problems with his estranged son, Danny (Patrick Fugit), a former drug abuser who returns home to make things right with his father and mother (Joely Richardson). And then there's Neil (Josh Gad), a chubby, young ER doctor with an extensive porn collection who has a propensity for groping girls on the subway and winds up getting fired for using his smartphone to record video under a colleague's skirt. Neil is arrested and ordered by the court to show up for 12-step group counseling, where he is sponsored by Adam, and also gets friendly with a fellow addict—tattooed, spiky-haired Dede (pop singer Pink)—whilst trying to cope with his Jewish mother (Carol Kane). Unfortunately, this film about uncontrollable urges is also unsatisfying, uncomfortable, and almost offensively banal—a total turnoff. Optional. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by writer-director Stuart Blumberg and writer Matt Winston, a "One Step at a Time" making-of featurette (15 min.), deleted and extended scenes (10 min.), a gag reel (3 min.), trailers, and a bonus UltraViolet copy of the film. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a lackluster film.] (S. Granger)
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Lionsgate, 113 min., R, DVD: $19.98, Blu-ray: $24.99, Jan. 7 Volume 28, Issue 6
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As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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