What do we want?! (CREDIT: Magnolia Pictures)
Starring: Cooper Hoffman, Olivia Wilde, Mason Gooding, Chase Sui Wonders, Daveed Diggs, Charli XCX, Johnny Knoxville, Margaret Cho, Roxane Mesquida
Director: Gregg Araki
Running Time: 90 Minutes
Rating: R for Strong Sexuality (Frequently Funny and Occasionally Scary)
Release Date: July 31, 2026 (Theaters)
What’s It About?: In I Want Your Sex, Cooper Hoffman plays a naive fellow named Elliot who truly never could have guessed what he was in for at his new job. (Even those of us who aren’t so gullible would have been surprised by all the twists and turns!) He’s hired as a new assistant for Erika Tracy (Olivia Wilde), an artist known for her sexually explicit pieces and her extreme skepticism towards her own profession. Soon enough, the assistant gig turns into a BDSM relationship. Elliot’s excited to be dominated by a powerful woman, whereas she seems to be motivated mostly by boredom. It’s all fated to take a bizarre dark turn, as indicated by flash-forwards of Elliot answering to a pair of detectives (Johnny Knoxville, Margaret Cho) about Erika’s disappearance and possible murder.
What Made an Impression?: “Contemporary Art is a Scam”: I’m no expert in the contemporary art scene, but I have seen plenty of movies that hilariously insist that the whole endeavor is patently ridiculous. And I Want Your Sex is particularly ruthless in that regard. It essentially asks: What if your whole life were just a nonsensical work of art provocation? Elliot’s experience suggests that it would be decently amusing at first but that it would inevitably become a little too anxiety-inducing.
More Like “Ex-C-Ex”: This is a movie with a bunch of friendly faces in the supporting cast, including Daveed Diggs as Erika’s brusque manager, Mason Gooding as Elliot’s sort-of-friendly co-worker, and Chase Sui Wonders as Elliot’s roommate who’s also by far the least warped human being we encounter. But then there’s Charli XCX (continuing quite the onscreen year for herself) as Elliot’s girlfriend. And let’s put “girlfriend” in quotes because she doesn’t appear to love or like him in any measurable capacity. And let’s furthermore say that that whole gag is milked for all its worth in a handful of well-deployed scenes, including a screamer of a punch line
I Guess That Was Worth It: I Want Your Sex hinges on a conclusion that offers a more-or-less happy ending for just about everybody. It’s definitely a relief, although it does feel like it kind of comes out of nowhere. But the more I’ve thought about it, the more it actually has felt paradoxically inevitable, while boldly underscoring the thesis that art is just a scam. But not in a way that is as cynical as you might suspect that message must be. Instead, we are assured that we can use that scam energy and be reborn in truth on the other side.
I Want Your Sex is Recommended If: You’ve always wanted to see The Usual Suspects crossed with Nocturnal Animals
Grade: 3.5 out of 5 Whips
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