This is a film with a ton of potential.

From start to finish we see the sexual encounters of five couples: ex-lovers, plutonic best friends, a first date, a long-time couple, and an impromptu threesome. Each encounter starts with the uncomfortable conversation and works its way through the foreplay and the orgasm to the pillow talk at the end. With its provocative title, and its ambitiously frank attitude toward sex, Young People Fucking promises eroticism and insight. How can one not be intrigued?

I watched this film with mild hope that it would deliver on its promises, and I was let down.

The underlying issue is that the film was seemingly sidetracked from being a light-hearted but serious film about genuine sex to a raucous, bawdy sex comedy. There exists a conflict between the initial ambition and the end result, and the two do not mix well.

I see it happening this way. It was very focused on being open and honest about sex. The writers, the cast, the crew all sat down for the big shoot but like how some people in an audience will laugh at something that makes them feel uncomfortable, I think the people making this film became shy. They started using humor as a defense mechanism when some of the actors realized that they were in a little over their heads. The tone of the shoot turned to nervous giggles as time went on, and people starting having fun with that to the point where it eventually usurped the tone of the picture. This is but a theory of course, but it does explain a few things.

The result is a needlessly stagy series of in-jokes. Fake, silly sex takes the place of genuine emotion and Young People Fucking suffers because of it. It's not nearly as engaging when the viewer cannot see people, but rather actors playing people. It is impossible to see reflections of one's own sexual encounters when the encounters on screen are decidedly false and exaggerated. It's no longer erotic when it is so obviously two people pretending to have sex. For a movie that is meant to be so blunt, why is everyone wearing so many clothes? There are so few naked breasts in the picture (NO!!), and to be fair to all genders, there is nary a hint of male nudity either. Not to be too much of a pervert, but if a movie is called Young People Fucking, am I wrong to expect a little full frontal? I'm just being honest. Look at how the sex is handled in a film like Antares or on the other side of the cinematic realm Irreversible. Does anyone doubt how genuine these relationships are?

I'm not angry with Young People Fucking. I'm sure that the people involved in the picture are very proud of what they accomplished. There are probably personal demons that have been exorcised, and relationships that have been established/strengthened. The cast seems very tight, and there is good chemistry between everyone. The film got a national (Canadian) theatrical release, which is great and something we don't see nearly enough of. It is an ambitious film, and I appreciate the fact that it received the success that it did. I just wished it had managed to follow through with its promise.