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By Root 578 0

it isn’t that at all. It’s about two adults and their mutual attraction. It probably wouldn’t hold much interest for hormonal teenagers, even though there’s plenty of nudity on display, because it isn’t about the quest for sex. In fact, as the movie opens we discover that the leading man and leading woman have already spent an active night in bed together. Writer-director Jonathan Teplitzky is interested in what happens to those two people after that proverbial one-night stand.

We all put on a face for the world, especially when we meet someone to whom we’re attracted. Getting to know that person is one of the most challenging rituals any man or woman faces in life. Part of this cheerful movie’s appeal is the direct contact we have with its players as they go through this awkward stage. Cin (Susie Porter) and Josh (David Wenham) talk directly to us in the film’s opening scene; at other times we hear their thoughts and observe how they contrast with what they’re actually saying to each other, even during sex.

It seems that they met the night before and shared a taxi ride following a party. Cin invited Josh up to her apartment and they haven’t left yet, even though she’s keenly aware that he is based in London and is headed back there in three days. The question is, will he want to leave?

Both Porter and Wenham (who are well known in Australia, much less so here) are attractive, appealing actors who seem completely comfortable being naked in front of the camera, which helps us get accustomed to the idea, too. Can you picture any American actors doing the same for almost the entire duration of a film? The frankness of their inner conversations is equally rare in Hollywood movies—and thus, disarming. We may hatch many of the same thoughts, but we’ve been taught to suppress them, or to confide only in our closest friends.

But Better Than Sex isn’t an instructional film: it’s a piece of light entertainment that’s thoroughly engaging.

7. THE BIG HIT

(1998)

Directed by Che-Kirk (Kirk) Wong

Screenplay by Ben Ramsey

Actors:

MARK WAHLBERG

LOU DIAMOND PHILLIPS

CHRISTINA APPLEGATE

CHINA CHOW

AVERY BROOKS

BOKEEM WOODBINE

ANTONIO SABATO JR.

LAINIE KAZAN

ELLIOTT GOULD

SAB SHIMONO

LELA ROCHON

ROBIN DUNNE

Like other critics I’m often asked to make lists, and the toughest kind for me to do is a selection of Guilty Pleasures. If I don’t feel guilty about liking Jerry Lewis, the Three Stooges, or Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla, what’s left? But I will say I am slightly sheepish about my fondness for The Big Hit. In some ways it’s indefensible, but this unabashed mélange of politically incorrect comedy and in-your-face action is great fun to watch. It expands its ideas to such a ludicrous extreme that you can’t take it seriously…and that’s just what I like about it.

Mark Wahlberg plays Melvin Smiley, a hit man who works for crime boss Avery Brooks and tries his best to hide his sordid activities from his fiancée, Christina Applegate. Melvin hangs out with a none-too-bright posse—played by Lou Diamond Phillips, Bokeem Woodbine, and Antonio Sabato Jr.—and one day they decide to pull a fast one on their boss by kidnapping the daughter of a Japanese businessman. Little do they dream that the Asian mogul has just gone broke—and the girl is Brooks’s goddaughter.

Things go from bad to worse with every move they make. And to add to the chaos, Applegate’s Jewish parents show up for a visit. They’re played with gusto by Elliott Gould and Lainie Kazan.

A simple outline can’t do justice to this frenetic farce, which turns racial and ethnic stereotypes upside down and wears its outlandishness on its sleeve, to coin a phrase. You might even call this a recruiting film for bad behavior.

Most critics despised The Big Hit, and audiences didn’t flock to see it, perhaps confused as to whether it was a comedy or an action movie—especially with John Woo’s name as executive producer—and never dreaming it was a hybrid of the two. Hong Kong veteran Kirk Wong hasn’t directed a movie since, and screenwriter Ben Ramsey didn’t earn another