Roderick Blank (Simon Baker, THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA) is charming and successful and about to get married. He’s got it all. Until he receives a mysterious email with a list of names; specifically, the names of everyone he’s had sex with and everyone he ever will have sex with. And the bride-to-be is only number 29 in a list of 101. At the same time, a mysterious femme fatale nicknamed “Death Nell” (Winona Ryder, HEATHERS) by the media is leaving behind her a path of comatose men. When their paths meet, they’ll both receive a crash course in SEX AND DEATH 101.

I really, really wanted to like this movie. Really. I enjoy the campy take on high school in Waters’ HEATHERS and thought this would be similarly tongue in cheek. Walking the fine line between satire and slapstick, SEX AND DEATH 101 inevitably plummets over the edge onto the slapstick side over and over again. Since the list contains 101 names, Waters feels free to run the gamut on “101 perversions”, as the aptly-named documentary in the extra features succinctly puts it. Accidental sex (more than once), two women who happen to be lesbians, a hint of necrophilia, and even a busload of school-uniformed virgins are given their own little vignettes.

The film harkens back to the sex comedies of the 70’s and 80’s, with enough T&A to draw in the PORKY’S-loving crowd. It’s not that I’m opposed to it, but nudity and sex scenes should have a reason to be there, even if the film is billed as a sex comedy. And a lot of what appears in SEX AND DEATH 101 has a cold, almost uncomfortable fog around it. It says on the back of the DVD that the men who become Death Nell’s victims are guilty of sex crimes against women, but other than most of them appearing to be pervs of one degree or another, I didn’t really get the “crime” part. Perhaps I wasn’t paying close enough attention.

That said, there are some great lines. My particular favorite coming when Roderick is bemoaning his “just friend” status with a woman he has come to care about. He finds out that while she’s not sleeping with him, she’s still getting sex elsewhere, and he says, “If a woman wasn’t having sex with you, it was okay because she wasn’t having sex with anyone else. Where is that whore bitch Jane Austen when you need her?” There are little gems and little moments like this one that are highlighted by the actors and their skills: Simon Baker’s charm, Winona Ryder’s mystery, Patton Oswalt’s comedy (he plays one of a trio of “all-knowing beings), and Mindy Cohn’s no-nonsense attitude (she plays Roderick’s assistant).

At times the film becomes a chore to sit through, but if you stick with it, there are occasional rewards to reap.

Picture and sound are average, clean and clear enough. Available audio tracks include both Dolby Surround 5.1 and Dolby Surround 2.0.

* Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Daniel Waters. If you’re looking for the kind of audio commentary that does not stop – whether or not it’s entertaining or informative – this is it. I don’t think the guy drew a breath for the first five minutes of the movie, and he literally pauses maybe a grand total of five times before the credits. Some of the stuff is informative, but I got the feeling this guy just likes to hear himself talk. But he is the writer and the director and it’s his movie, so I suppose he’s entitled.
* 101 Perversions. This “documentary” presents a warning at its opening that it contains “spoilers” and that it shouldn’t be watch before you’ve seen the film. Hear about how Daniel Waters wanted to create the “new great American movie about sex” and decided to include a shout-out for every pervert in the audience. (17:00)
* Theatrical Trailer
* Also on DVD. Includes trailers for “HOLLYWOOD RESIDENTIAL” and HEATHERS.
* Previews for THE GRAND and THE LATHER EFFECT at the disc’s opening.