A wild, surging burlesque of free-flowing sexuality you're more likely to see on the Internet than in a movie theater.
Comment
10/19/06
Shortbus (2006)
65
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:118
Fresh:77
Rotten:41
Average Rating:6.4/10
Consensus: The sex may be explicit, but Mitchell integrates it into the characters' lives and serves the whole story up with a generous dose of sweetness and wit.
Theatrical Release:01-12-2006
Synopsis: Writer/director John Cameron Mitchell follows up the cult classic HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH with another salacious slice of sex-laden cinema. Mitchell interweaves three separate tales of highly... [More]
Starring: Raphael Barker, Lindsay Beamish, Justin Bond, Paul Dawson
Director: John Cameron Mitchell
Reviews for Shortbus
It's actually a rather sweet and sharply funny ode to sexual liberation, and I suppose it wouldn't make sense that a film celebrating the freedom for consenting adults to say "yes" would say "no" to showing it.
10/19/06
The premise of this story is pretty fascinating but it seems that it gets diluted, not enhanced by the sheer amount of sex. I would be fakin' it if I recommended this movie.
10/14/06
Suffers from a vague, ad lib-y script and a cast that, while hardly shy, isn't exactly charismatic.
10/13/06
I must admit I found Shortbus to be an unsuccessful hybrid -- effective neither as porn (it's often strangely unerotic) nor as art or storytelling.
10/13/06
Despite the buzz about its hard-core hanky-panky, writer-director John Cameron Mitchell paints a bland, bleak portrait of navel-gazing New Yorkers driven by carnal pleasures -- or lack of them.
10/13/06
It would have helped had the characters in Shortbus been a little more interesting than the sexual positions in which they frequently find themselves entangled.
10/13/06
I kid you not, 'heartwarming' is the best word to describe it.
10/13/06
It's more than a porno movie with a plot. The reality of the heart manages to always temper the allure of the flesh. Ultimately, Mr. Mitchell shows us that sex doesn't mean a whole lot without a deeper connection.
10/13/06
[Mitchell] reclaims sex -- filming it, watching it, talking about it, doing it -- as something both deeply funny and transcendently human: a revolving door that leads to the senses and to the heart.
10/13/06
The premise -- a roundelay of New Yorkers looking for connection, or to escape it -- feels tired.
10/12/06
Yes, Shortbus is all about hooking up, but in emotional as much as sexual ways. That's what makes the movie engaging, and sometimes even moving.
10/12/06
A fun ride with a satisfying finish. Appropriately enough.
10/12/06
Don't try this at home.
10/11/06
Rankly sentimental...though the prudish should definitely steer clear, what ultimately derails Shortbus is that it's actually far less daring than it pretends to be.
10/11/06
...the largest and most impressive organ on display in Shortbus is the movie's heart.
10/11/06
Shortbus is very funny, and quite moving at times. There are some neat low-budget stylistic touches as well.
10/09/06
All manners of sexual behavior ultimately detract from a poignant message about the slim and subtle connections between physical and emotional love.
10/09/06
Shortbus is sexually explicit, yes, but it is more about the people portrayed and how they cope with their ever-changing lives as they find themselves.
10/08/06
On its own, the movie feels, while engaging, provocative and hugely watchable (and you'll have to trust me on this, not simply because of its genuinely daring sex scenes) also slightly tentative and vague.
10/06/06
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