Lie With Me

I've learnt to spot the danger signs of an impending bad movie. One of them is when the director is also the screenwriter and producer -- in short, there's no one there to put the brakes on when the film starts to get too self-absorbed. Such is the case with this Canadian indie film that seems to have gone straight to video.



Based on Tamara Berger's novel of the same name (published by the appropriately named Gutter Press), we meet Leila (Lauren Lee Smith), a young woman at a party. She's more than a little tipsy, and looks to be on the scrawny side, dressed clearly with the message that she's there to get laid -- oops, I mean have a good time. One man there is pretty bold about eyeing her, and the pair end up in the bathroom, where he helps her to sober up a little with a drink of water. It almost turns into sex, but his girlfriend calls for him outside and he leaves. He, we find out, is named David (Eric Balfour).



She leaves the party, taking with her Shy Guy (Michael Facciolo), and proceeds to have sex with him outside, up against a chain-link fence. Sitting in his car, watching the pair, is none other than David, along with his girlfriend. David and Leila watch each other getting laid, mimicing each others actions, as it were. At this point, I had a pretty good idea of what this film was going to be about, but as I have this thing about finishing the book or film I start, I didn't turn it off right away.



Eventually, Leila and David meet up again, this time in a public playground, and in a daring moment, she exposes herself to him, making her own interest pretty well known. They move onto his apartment for sex, and the sexual compulsion between the two of them gets going. And in fact that's what most of this film is about -- we're either watching Leila and David going at it like deranged rabbits, or she's letting us know her thoughts and experiences in a voice over that supposed to be titillating and erotic, but sounds more like a bad memoir.



The relationship is pretty predictable -- lust, jealousy phase, playing house together phase, she tries to get it past sex, he withdraws and treats her like trash, they break up, and so on and so forth. Yawn. We've seen this before. While I have to say that the sex at least looks real and honest, the rest of the film isn't that interesting. David, in particular, strikes me as the sort of young man that is fashionable these days -- unshaven, grungy and without any visible means of support. He does take care of an elderly, ailing father, so I guess that's something in his favour. But who in their right mind goes about in dirty jeans without underwear? I had a strong urge to go dip him in a vat of lye.



Leila's not much better. She's perpetually rumpled in skimpy clothing that looks to be ready to fall off at anytime. It's a cheap and sleazy look, and if she's looking for true love or respect from men, it's not a way to really inspire it either. Her personal life isn't that much better -- her parents are going through a divorce, her job is a dead-end job, she seems to spend her free time on the couch watching porn, or partying it up with weed and alcohol. She's not someone I would really care to know in reality either.



In short, this is a couple made for each other. Neither one of them are very responsible, and frankly, he treats her like a piece of meat. I suppose this is what makes this a modern, young adult relationship, sex without strings or emotion. And while the sex does get interesting, I've seen far far better in x-rated film, the only thing this lacks is what is known as the money shot in the trade.



Indeed, Virgo tries to make this as arty as possible, with lots of soft lighting, on location shots in Toronto, use of colour and texture, and I guess that works. But there isn't any sort of plot in this except for the so-called romance between the two leads, and their sexual shenanigans. Oh, there's an attempt or two with the illness of one parent, and the impeding divorce, but the central relationship is so tawdry, the viewer is left with the attitude of so what? by the end.



I don't demand syrupy romance, as long as there is some sort of passion there, but these two are so out of touch with themselves, how can they possibly make it work with each beyond the rubbing together of two body parts? That was the other big complaint with this one -- no one hits a climax that fast, and here it's the slam-bam-thankee-ma'am sort of sex. I kept thinking that she must have had insides of old leather to put up with that.



This is not for children of any age, and I would suspect that most adults would find it a bit on the disturbing side. There is quite a bit of sex in this, with male and female frontal nudity, sex in public, public exposure, sex in public, in cars, with lots of foul language and every form of straight sex that can be performed. There's plenty of drug and alcohol abuse as well. But they do try with a bit of condom use -- after all, this is the age of safe sex, I suppose.



No subtitles, some lackluster trailers for other films, and a voice-over commentary from the director. Nothing really special to watch either.



This is certainly a D-list film. Those who prefer their film to have sex and be honest about it might find a few minutes worth watching, but this 100-minute clunker has nothing else going for it. Those who are looking for a love story will be turned off by the callous brutality and attitudes. It's not a likeable film at all, and I urge you to spend your time with something, anything, else.



Not recommended.

I saw this movie on cable one night and couldn't help but purchase it on DVD. There were some elements that if you take them one by one, are not great by itself, but taken as a whole, it sorta worked. The 2 main characters were openly flawed; both had their own background stories, but to me, the movie was really about the heroine. Leila (Lauren Lee Smith) was your typical hookup girl. She looks like a disheveled model with committment issues, and she has a face that sorta grows on you-- she's not pretty right away. She also doesn't say anything new (how guys don't feel love, all they think about is sex blah blah), but just like what my title suggests, it's something you can't help but watch anyway. Part of that feeling too is that the two protagonists look like they can be a real-life couple. They both look like models, but not typical (annoying) Abercrombie, just good-looking without trying too hard. David (Eric Balfour) did his part of looking good and sexy...I didn't focus on his acting too much; He certainly looked desirable enough that would merit the fuss over him. I really appreciated the scenes that showed sexual restlessness; it's late in the afernoon, there's-nothing-to-do-and-I'm-lonely/frisky and Leila is by herself...It was a relief to see that after a rebuff, Leila didn't go out shopping or hang out with the girls and sputter self-righteous crap.

This movie really disappointed me in that it did not say anything different, especially if you have seen this typical scenario where a woman is promiscuous and hits on a man, gets obsessed with him and that is it, then don't waste your money. As for the supposed sensual, erotic ratings I have read here, I did not see it. The scenes were very well guarded from view for the most part and not at all stimulating. Don't waste your time or money (even to rent this one).

eric balfour at his best. sensual explicit scenes. a must see for every avid fan.

The two leads in this movie do a good job of portraying raw lust, and sexual tension. There is not much dialogue, mostly just the narration by the female lead, Leila [played by the lovely & sexy Lauren Lee Smith]& lots & lots of steamy, erotic sex. The storyline itself is nothing new, basically about two people, a sexual nymphet Leila and a sexually aggressive guy, David who both have different ideas about the direction their 'relationship' should lead. Watching it was better than watching a porn movie in that at least the sex doesn't just seem purely mechanical, and there is really good chemistry between the two leads. If a comparison is to be made with a more well-known movie, I would say this was close to Looking for Mr Goodbar, in which Diane Keaton plays a sexually obsessed woman [kind of what Leila is like in this movie] except this movie lacks the darker undertones of Goodbar. Final verdict: erotic & watchable.