Chicks, Man (1999)

I had to get this movie through Blockbuster since Netflix doesn't even list it. It's The Tao of Steve meets Sex and the City (esp. the first-season twentysomething episode) though with production values suggestive of Strangeheart. It's a low-budget independent production so the acting is sometimes stilted, the lighting muddy, and the camera angles awkward -- but the script is intelligent with more pith and vinegar than most big-budget productions, so I found myself growing increasingly affectionate of this indie offering. Granted, it's about the social and sexual antics of twentysomething college students, so the story is not always pretty, esp. when set in the two lead characters' bachelor pad (alien-head and beer-bottle decor, beer poured in cereal, etc.) and dealing with their whatever-it-takes-dude attitude towards getting sex. Nevertheless, the movie succeeds very well in its portrayal and juxtaposition of dialog between women, dialog between men, and dialog between women and men about romance and relationships. You have to see how good the women are at beguiling from them every detail about the men's relationships -- and (shudder) feelings! In a quirky touch suggestive of Ally McBeal, subtle sound effects impinge on certain scenes to build the ironic tension. In a classic scene that's an homage to the prisoner-of-war scene in The Deerhunter, the two lead male characters discuss how trapped they feel by the women prying into their lives. The two male and two female leads do well in their roles and I'd like to see more from them, but only two have later credits: Aaron Priest was in Mystery Men and Robia LaMorte has been a bit busy, including several episodes of C.S.I. Best of all, this show has more quotable lines than even The Tao of Steve! The most memorable line is "The last thing I want to do is have sex with someone I'm in love with." Yikes! 3.5 stars.