How To Have Sex is an odd title, but one which rather tells a different story, as three young London women – Tara (the stunning Mia McKenna-Bruce – Last Train To Christmas), Skye (Lara Peake – How to Talk to Girls at Parties) and Em (Enva Lewis) – head off on a very hedonistic holiday, the film just showing them arriving out there, without anything in the way of introduction. Better than 30 minutes of pointless preamble, I guess.
They wake up, they go out, smoke a fag, put it out, see new friends, see the sights, feel alright… until it’s time to suffer the hangover comedown, and the effects of burning the candle at both ends, bolstered by appropriate junk food.
Leading the charge is cute, petite Tara, who quickly hits it off with Manchester lad Badger (Shaun Thomas – The Long Shadow). But there’s competition from his friend, Paddy (Samuel Bottomley – Ghost Stories), who also comes sniffing around.
Tara’s teased for how she, basically, can’t get a shag, but then 30 minutes in, she goes missing, the other two girls wondering where she got to. This is followed by a flashback to the night, and we see how her evening went before she returns.
It’s unclear just how the encounter has wholly taken place – perhaps intentionally – since both Tara and the lad she ends up with have each had a skinful. Over time, you get to learn more about quite how the situation has taken place, but the film rather meanders to a conclusion, as opposed to getting to the nub of the issue.
Now, how did I come to see this at Cineworld, despite being on Odeon Limitless? See my video above, as well as my review for The Royal Hotel.
How To Have Sex is in cinemas now, and is available to pre-order on Blu-ray and DVD, with the release date of February 12th 2024.
Detailed specs:
Cert:
Running time: 91 minutes
Release date: November 3rd 2023
Studio: MUBI
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Cinema: Odeon Trafford Centre
Rating: 5/10
Director: Molly Manning Walker
Producers: Konstantinos Kontovrakis, Emily Leo, Ivana MacKinnon
Screenplay: Molly Manning Walker
Music: James Jacob
Cast:
Tara: Mia McKenna-Bruce
Badger: Shaun Thomas
Skye: Lara Peake
Em: Enva Lewis
Paddy: Samuel Bottomley
Paige: Laura Ambler
Anna: Anna Antoniades
Gemma: Daisy Jelley
Josh: Finlay Vane Last
Fi: Eilidh Loan
Elliot: Elliot Warren
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.