“IS IT OK TO LAUGH WHILE HAVING SEX?”

By Raymond Benson

When Dr. David Ruben’s sex manual Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (But Were Afraid to Ask) was published in 1969, it became a best-seller and quickly entered the mainstream. Everyone talked about it. It was even office water-cooler fare. It wasn’t meant to be funny—just informal, straight, and to the point. The book was organized as a series of questions, such as “Why do some women have trouble reaching an orgasm?” and the author would answer.

In 1972, Woody Allen freely adapted it as a comedy, taking a handful of the questions from the book and creating a series of seven vignettes that are, well, ridiculous. It became one of Allen’s biggest hits of his entire career—right now BuzzFeed ranks it as his fourth highest box office earner when adjusted for inflation.

It was only Allen’s third picture (not counting Play It Again, Sam, which he didn’t direct and was released earlier in ’72), so the auteur was still finding his way. He was still all about making zany, but smart, movies that were all about the gags. But because of the episodic nature of its structure, some sketches work better than others. Of the seven “questions” that are illustrated, I would say two are 5-star brilliant, two are 4-star good, and the rest just okay. In 1972, some of the material was R-rated shocking in a dirty-joke, nudge-nudge way. Today, Everything comes off a bit tawdry and dated in places. However, it’s still a worthwhile picture with some major laughs in key sequences.

The two highlights are “What is sodomy?”—in which Gene Wilder delivers a brilliantly subtle performance as a doctor who gets it on with a sheep; and “What happens during ejaculation?”—which is presented like a NASA-mission with a “control room” inside a man’s brain manned by Tony Randall, Burt Reynolds, and others, and featuring Allen as a bespectacled sperm who is afraid to leap out, paratrooper-style.

Other funny moments are “Do aphrodisiacs work?”—with Allen as a court jester in Shakespearean times, trying to seduce the queen (Lynn Redgrave), and “Are the findings of doctors and clinics who do sexual research and experiments accurate?”—in which Allen and a journalist (Heather MacRae) visit a mad doctor (John Carradine), whose lab work produces a giant-monster-breast that terrorizes the countryside.

The game show What’s My Line?-parody (retitled What’s My Perversion?) is clever, as it’s presented in old television black and white kinescope style with the original host (Jack Barry) and contestants. Other actors appearing in the film are Louise Lasser, Anthony Quayle, Geoffrey Holder, Lou Jacobi, and Erin Fleming.

The Twilight Time Blu-ray looks fine in its 1080p High Definition; but frankly, the old 1970s film stock just doesn’t lend itself well to HD. Does it look better than standard DVD? A little. The 1.0 DTS-HD Master Audio is an improvement, however; the pictures sounds terrific.

As usual with Allen’s Blu-ray releases, the only supplements are an isolated music and effects track, and the original theatrical trailer. Julie Kirgo provides the knowledgeable essay in the booklet.

“Is this sex comedy worth buying on Blu-ray?” The Answer—yes, especially since this release is limited to only 3000 units. And while it doesn’t rank as one of Woody Allen’s best movies, it will make you laugh, especially while having sex.

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