Virtual Sexuality

Virtual Sexuality [VHS]

Justine (the delightful Laura Fraser), the heroine of Virtual Sexuality, thinks her life is ruined because she's a 17-year-old virgin. Through her friend Chas (Luke DeLacey), she tries to maneuver a cute but boorish athlete into a date, but he stands her up. Despondent, she and Chas go to a virtual reality exhibition, which features a virtual makeover machine--but instead of modeling a different version of herself, Justine creates a 3-D image of her perfect man. Due to a freak accident, Justine suddenly finds herself inside of that male body--she's become her own ideal mate (Rupert Penry-Jones)--and the life of a boy isn't the one she wants to live. This charming comedy is being marketed as if this plot twist didn't exist, which is peculiar because this is what makes the movie fun. There aren't any stunning revelations about gender roles as Chas teaches Jake--the name the male Justine gives herself--but there's a sweet playfulness to how Jake interacts with his body and the rest of the world. Fraser and Penry-Jones are perfectly matched; they do a superb job of seeming like the same personality in two different bodies. Its ads make Virtual Sexuality look like yet another movie about two girls fighting over a guy, but that doesn't describe this unexpected British comedy at all--its female perspective on sex takes it in an entirely different direction. Based on a novel by Chloë Rayban. --Bret Fetzer

Virtual Sexuality

A woman looking for the man of her dreams turns to a computer with unexpected results in the British comedy Virtual Sexuality. Justine (Laura Fraser) is 17 year old and a virgin, a situation she's none too happy about. She has her eye on Alex (Kieran O'Brien), one of her classmates, and has been plotting a seduction following the advice of her friends Fran (Marcelle Duprey) and Chas (Luke de Lacey). However, when Alex breaks their date to go out with Hoover (Natasha Bell), Justine is crushed; to take her mind off this turn of events, she goes to a computer show with Chas. Justine notices a virtual-reality makeover machine on display, and after toying with her own image for a while uses the computer to design her ideal man. Something goes wrong with the hall's power supply, and the computer explodes. The dust settles to reveal Jake (Rupert Penry-Jones), who looks like the man Justine was designing -- except he's wearing her clothes and thinks he's her. Justine eventually returns and is introduced to Jake; she finds she likes him quite a bit, not realizing he's merely a manifestation of her own personality. However, Jake also has also attracted the attention of her nemesis Hoover. Virtual Sexuality was based on a novel by British author Chloe Rayban. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi