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Lie With Me (DVD)
Year: 2005
Rating: R
Director: Clément Virgo
Cast: Eric Balfour , Lauren Lee Smith , Polly Shannon
Release Date: January 05, 2011
Distributor: Beyond
The Film: 1.5
FILMINK rates DVDs and Blu-rays out of 5"...it’s more 'Brown Bunny' than 'Last Tango in Paris'..."
Lie with Me, adapted from the novella of the same name, has an overwrought, precious indie spirit that wears out its welcome almost immediately as we follow the sexcapades of Leila (Lauren Lee Smith), an obsessive shop clerk who hands out sexual pleasures like business cards, but falls in love with her latest conquest, David (Eric Balfour from Six Feet Under).
The flat story and weak performances are more or less inconsequential, as the movie wants us to be enthralled by its brave use of explicit material. But it's more Brown Bunny than Last Tango in Paris, thanks to the high levels of unsimulated sex and prominent screen time given to Balfour's ding dong. But the full frontal nudity doesn't really serve to explore new territory in sexual relationships. And there's barely a conversation between Leila and David that logically takes them from sexual obsession to the supposed real love that they feel, leaving us to wonder how exactly it is that these people even like each other.
