The cover text size differential between the various words in the title of Sex and Death 101 tells potential viewers exactly what it wants them to be thinking about — namely, bump-and-grind couplings and the possibility of a naked Winona Ryder.

There’s a lot more going on here than one might at first glance expect, though. After all, the movie represents a reunion between Ryder and Daniel Waters. In 1989, Ryder appeared alongside Christian Slater in Heathers,
written by Waters and directed by Michael Lehman, and the result
was akin to a bunker-penetrating bombshell — something that bore
results with a bit of time. A darkly comedic attack on the cozy pieties present in most teen flicks, Heathers remains an even more wickedly canted take-down of adolescent social cliques than its most recent descendant, Mean Girls. It assayed popularity, teen suicide and downright sociopathic behavior
with equal, cold-water-to-the-face irreverence. Though the film grossed
only a bit above $1 million in theaters, it became a sensation in the
rental and nascent sell-thru market — the very definition of a cult
hit.

Similarly, Sex and Death 101 is a doozy of a concept flick that’s sure to matter an awful lot to a small, film-savvy audience, even if it doesn’t quite live up to the ripest imaginations its premise inspires. And while she isn’t the
lead, per se, the movie does represent the best opportunity many longtime fans will have had to
see a “real” Ryder in some time, after several indie flicks, a
small role in the anthology comedy The Ten and a prominent role in Richard Linklater’s rotoscope-animated A Scanner Darkly.
Weird, funny, engaging and spiritedly thoughtful even if not always
successful, the pairing of Ryder and Waters seems to celebrate a certain reunion of like
minds.

Waters’ first film behind the camera since 2001’s Happy Campers, his only other directing credit, Sex and Death 101 centers around Roderick Blank (Something Different‘s
Simon Baker), a successful advertising executive who, just weeks before
his marriage to Fiona (Julie Bowen), gets a mysterious email that
contains the names of everyone he’s ever had or will have sex with, 101 women in
total. The rub is that it doesn’t end with his wife-to-be — in fact,
she’s nowhere near the last name. In the midst of this “sacrilegious
epiphany,” and finding no relief from a trio of bizarro-world
comptrollers (Robert Wisdom, Patton Oswalt and Tanc Sade) from whom the
list originated, Roderick throws himself headlong into the sheer,
delicious variety (centerfolds, bisexual astronauts) of his predicted
future, but soon finds matters dulled without the thrill of the chase. Even worse, a new, true love (Leslie Bibb) turns out not to be
on the list, leaving Roderick devastated. All this is crosscut with and eventually complicated by
the story of a woman, known only as “Death Nell” (Ryder),
who’s gaining a media following as a murderous femme fatale, putting
all sorts of bad men in comas.

From start to conclusion, Sex and Death 101
is an exercise in wheel-spinning hijinks much more than any analysis.
(“I’m sure there’s some logical explanation for all this, but I’m not
going to wait around for it,” says Roderick at one point.) Waters has
in the past described his personal sensibility as “Bunuel meets Caddyshack,” and that description aptly captures some of the wild tonal shifts that mark Sex and Death 101
— a movie that includes a gross-out bait-and-switch reminiscent of
Stifler’s clandestine closet hook-up in American Wedding, but also
sincere questions and insight about the existential crises to be found
in knowing beforehand one’s lovers (and, by extension, non-lovers). How
much of life, and the appropriation of our time, is in pursuit or
purchase of these tangible acts? While Baker is the lens through which
the story is told, Ryder is its scythe-bearing, no-BS conscience, and a
late diner scene in particular offers up powerful proof of (no pun
intended here) her ability to kill softly.

In the end, Sex and Death 101
isn’t so much profound in and of itself as it is a fun, sloppy
treatment of a profoundly interesting premise. At just under two hours, it lurches to and fro, with certain passages (the story strand with Bibb) coming across as much more interesting than others (the aforementioned quasi-omniscient but not omnipotent guys, who advise Roderick to simply get rid of the list, and vaguely hint of consequences should he not). As scripted by Waters — loosely, with a flitting, highly distractible nature — the movie feels both bold and not fully thought out, like it should
be reverse-adapted into a book. As a reunion project between Waters and
Ryder, though, it feels more or less right, leaving one wanting for thirds.

Housed in a regular Amray case with an accompanying cardboard slipcover, Sex and Death 101 comes presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen, with English language 5.1 Dolby digital surround and 2.0 surround audio tracks. Anchoring the supplemental material is an audio commentary track with Waters in which he talks about juggling the many different acting styles of his ensemble cast, and points up the film’s many references and sources of dialogue inspiration, which range from Shakespeare, sex comedies of the 1970s and Woody Allen films to adult flicks and contemporary sports figures. There’s also a 17-minute making-of featurette with cast and crew interviews, though even more with Ryder about her thoughts on Waters and her character would have certainly been welcome. To purchase the movie via Amazon, click here. B- (Movie) B (Disc)