"The Opposite of Sex" Rocks My World

What do you get when you mix a trash-talking harlot, a few gay guys, a frigid school teacher, and Lyle Lovett??? Give up...? Well, you get one of the most wickedly delightful comedies of 1998, "The Opposite of Sex."
Dedee Truitt (Christina Ricci), is everything but your average sweet 16-year-old girl. She schemes, manipulates, and sleeps with everything but the kitchen sink in order to get what she wants. Fleeing her Louisiana home, complete with her drunken ashtray of a mother, Dedee goes to rural Indiana to stay with her half-brother Bill (Martin Donovan). This is where she begins to put her deviance to use. She seduces Bill's insipid live-in love Matt (Ivan Sergei) and reveals to him that he got her pregnant. The two run off to Los Angeles, stealing $10,000 and the ashes of Bill's deceased ex-lover and the brother of Bill's friend, the bitter schoolmarm Lucia (Lisa Kudrow). A frantic race across the country begins as Bill and Lucia chase down the missing dyad to prove the paternity of Dedee's unborn child and to get some answers. Bill and Lucia are joined in their chase by a helpful local sheriff, Carl (Lyle Lovett) and Matt's other lover (Johnny Galecki) in the hot pursuit to find out what is "The Opposite of Sex."
Brilliant performances are given by the entire cast. Ricci plays the role of Dedee with such a strength that you can't help but hate her and wonder just what this character is going to do next. A standout in the film is Lisa Kudrow's portrayal of the spinster Lucia. Kudrow leaves her ditzy "Friends" character behind and tackles a role that allows her to be unbelievably funny and intelligent at the same time. Donovan, Sergei, and Lovett give great performances as well. Without this stellar cast's performances, this brilliantly written script would not have come to such a brilliantly unbelievable life.