When is a kinky sex comedy not just a kinky sex comedy? When it’s directed by Gregg Araki, a pioneer of New Queer Cinema. In the '90s, he was the go-to guy for a certain brand of teen angst with films like The Living End, The Doom Generation, and Nowhere. He, along with the earthier Larry Clark, exploited this genre of disaffected youth. Strangers came to town, kids regardless of gender cavorted and bed-hopped, and a hedonistic time was had by all. Mr. Araki’s films were wry, knowing, and had their finger on the pulse of a generation, wherever that pulse might throb.
He also made great use of young Mina Suvari, Ryan Phillippe, Rose McGowan and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. With his new film, I Want Your Sex, he has higher wattage stars to work with and has gone mainstream.
I Want Your Sex starts Hollywood Boulevard style, with a corpse face down in a swimming pool, and then cuts to trendy avant-garde artist/entrepreneur Erica Tracy (Olivia Wilde) who taps nebbish Elliot (Cooper Hoffman) to be her boy toy. Elliot works at her studio readying Erica’s art for her next big show. It’s a “hipster sweat shop,” where Elliot chews gum, along with a few dozen others, and presses the pulpy wads onto a canvas of an outline of a vagina. Erica descends on him and initiates him to the world of BDSM.
From there, twists and turns. Erica reams, steams, dry cleans (and skewers) ol’ Elliot. She gleefully dominates him through a laundry list of paces: Elliot is dressed up, dressed down, and even sent as a gift to a friend who’s in town. A hero’s journey with orgasms.
A disquieting undercurrent of domesticity bubbles under the proceedings. Elliot brings his lessons home to his cold girlfriend Minerva (an unremarkable Charli xcx), of whom his best friend Apple (Chase Sui Wonders) says, “she’s like what AI would generate if you told it 'total bitch'.” Elliot wants a wife, and in his mind pastes Erica’s face on Minerva’s inert body. He reacts wildly when he fantasizes Erica asking if he ever wanted kids. The climax (so to speak) involves an altar, with Araki stalwart James Duval officiating.
What does Elliot want? What is Erica actually giving? Signals get crossed, onscreen and in the script. I Want Your Sex would be a candy-colored trifle if not for the actors. Olivia Wilde plays Erica self-assuredly as the businesswoman she is, employing her feline eyes and cougar attitude. I assumed that Ms. Wilde would have produced this, to add to her impressive roster of films, like The Invite, Don’t Worry Baby, and Booksmart. Ms. Wilde has determinably taken the auteur role, but according to the press notes, her only role here is acting, which she handles with aplomb. As a bonus, Margaret Cho and Johnny Knoxville play detectives grilling Cooper.
The real revelation is Cooper Hoffman, Philip Seymour’s son, who continues to meet the promise of Licorice Pizza and Saturday Night. Mr. Hoffman is so genuine on the screen, so real, that you believe him even if you can’t quite believe what he’s doing, like spreading himself across Erica’s lap and being buggered with a dildo. When standing and clothed, he’s more compelling a reason for this movie existing as anything, pretty impressive for one who’s 23 years old.
Sadly, though, for all the talent and shiny latex, I Want Your Sex is surprisingly flat. It has a by-the-numbers quality that the script works valiantly to subvert, but its premise won’t let it. I Want Your Sex lacks the depth of Mr. Araki’s early films, particularly one as insightful and intense as Mysterious Skin (2004). It skitters across a candy-colored surface despite solid performances. Olivia Wilde makes a terrific Mrs. Robinson to Cooper Hoffman’s scruffy Benjamin. But we’ve seen it all before.
How will it play in 2026, when grade school kids know about whips and cock rings? Will the hijinks be quaint? As Elliot’s obligatory gay sidekick Zap (Mason Gooding) says, “Welcome to the sad reality of now.”
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I Want Your Sex. Directed by Gregg Araki. 2026. In theaters. Runtime is 90 minutes.