Leslye Headland appears to be on a mission to show that fucked-up, sexually dysfunctional people need love too. Bachelorette, her debut film from 2012, had Kirsten Dunst, Isla Fisher and Masters of Sex siren Lizzy Caplan going on a sex-, booze- and cocaine-fueled tear the night before the wedding of their pal (Rebel Wilson) as they virtually dull the pain that comes from knowing you still don't have your shit together.
Her latest movie Sleeping With Other People continues in that same vein of shining a sympathetic light on the sex-crazed and self-destructive. Jason Sudeikis and Alison Brie play Jake and Lainey, two people who lost their virginity to each other back in college and have yet to get the hang of this whole love thing. Late bloomer Jake overcompensates for all those years of lonely nights by banging any woman he locks eyes with. Meanwhile, Lainey only has eyes for one man, her old college sweetheart (a weaselly Adam Scott). Unfortunately, he's engaged to someone else, which still doesn't stop him from engaging in squickies with sprung side-piece Lainey.
Jake and Lainey come back into one another's lives when they see each other at a Sex Addicts Anonymous meeting. They eventually become platonic BFFs, serving as each other's voice of reason when the urge to go off the deep end gets too strong. They also discuss touchy subjects like the right way to properly pleasure a woman. (A move known as the "Dirty DJ" is used during this conversation/demonstration.)
Sure, the plot sounds like a raunchier When Harry Met Sally... Thankfully, Headland isn't out to make another sexually tense retread where man-and-woman buddies spend a whole movie dancing around their feelings before they realize, hey, we're in love with each other! The movie is more sincere than salacious, as Sudeikis' and Brie's characters convincingly go about making an emotional connection rather than screwing things up with a sexual one.
Headland does something I haven't seen in a romantic comedy in a long damn time: She actually gives us characters who act like human beings. Of course, Sudeikis (who amazingly shows he can put that smart-ass snarkiness of his in check when he needs to reveal layers of vulnerability) and Brie (playful and tantalizing, even when she's at her most neurotic and self-loathing) make quite an adorable pair, never giving the sense that just because they're single, they're far from living the single life. The supporting cast also turns out some down-to-earth performances, especially Jason Mantzoukas and Andrea Savage as Sudeikis' amusingly married pals. Headland even gives them a hilarious, obviously improvised scene all to themselves during the end credits.
Sleeping With Other People comes as a joyful surprise, simply because it keeps a cool, classy head even when it gets down and dirty with talk of sex and love and relationships and all that adult shit. Despite the title, Headland is smart enough to know that while having sex may not solve most problems, talking about sex will definitely clear some things up.
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