The Oh in Ohio

The Oh in Ohio teeters precariously between raunchy sex comedy and tender romance. At first, the film appears to be content with being a vulgar, mirthless battle of the sexes. But then the Danny DeVito character reenters the picture and a surprisingly sensitive romance unfurls.

The film stars indie favorites Parker Posey and Paul Rudd as Priscilla and Jack, a married couple whose emotional connection languished long ago. Priscilla is an uptight workaholic who openly concedes she is frigid in the bedroom. Jack is a morose, over-the-hill high school teacher who surreptitiously sips beer from a brown paper bag during class. The breaking point of their relationship is Priscilla's inability to have an orgasm during intercourse. Jack's corresponding sense of inadequacy leads them to seek help from a sex therapist. The therapist suggests that she try a vibrator and when the electronic instrument succeeds, Jack moves out, defeated.

Left to his own devices, Jack begins an illicit affair with one of his biology students, Kristen (Mischa Barton). She states she isn't attracted to him but wants to help him out of his rut since his teaching helped her to find focus in her life. Nevertheless, their relationship quickly devolves into a sexual one. Meanwhile, Priscilla develops an unlikely attraction to Wayne "the Pool Guy" (DeVito), an aged pool salesman who has been hawking pools on late night television commercials for the past twenty years. With a twinkle in his eye and a charming humility, DeVito imbues the film with charisma and affability, something sorely lacking from the other relationships in the film.

Paul Rudd is one of the least conventional comedic actors working today and here he gives a dramatically understated performance, taking a role that could be one-dimensionally loathsome and instilling it with empathy through his self-aware sense of failure. Rudd's usually effortless charm is buried behind a feral beard and tired eyes, although he is awarded one hilarious sequence involving him breaking into Priscilla's house. Mischa Barton is serviceable in her role but not as successful at shaking her OC persona as co-star Benjamin McKenzie was in last year's Junebug.

The problem with their subplot is the nature of the circumstance itself. Affairs between hapless teachers and calculating students feel so stale and tried by this point, especially in a movie that is ballsy enough to cast DeVito as a love interest. It would have been far more interesting if Kristen actually did want to help reform Jack's life and gave him a makeover or formed an actual friendship. Although I suppose it is fair to the characters that Priscilla would get a fresh start while Jack meets a lustful impasse.

The racy material exists primarily in the dialogue and not in the visuals, separating this from the realms of gross-out comedy. The occasional attempts at making the film more shocking than

it should be are obvious mistakes. A useless scene involving a cameo by Liza Minelli is thrown in with reckless arbitrariness while an unwieldy and unconvincing character played by an uncredited Heather Graham feels gratuitously forced. And yet amidst these cloyingly cartoonish moments and the impishness with which the characters turn scientific terms into vulgarities, the second half sneaks up on you with its doting, softer side.

The turning point is the scene in which Priscilla's carefully placed beeper vibrates repeatedly during an important meeting. The ridiculousness of the over-the-top set piece is undercut by the seriousness of her boss' stern warning and her forlorn realization that she misses Jack. At its heart, The Oh in Ohio strives to be a better film than it initially appears to be. The final dinner scene between Priscilla and Jack is actually quite lovely. Not only have the characters grown since when we first me them, but the film has too.

Movie Grade: B-

Synopsis:

Priscilla Chase seemed to have everything going for her with one small private exception… She never thought much of sex. When her husband unexpectedly leaves her to regain his manhood she embarks on a wild journey that leads her to satisfaction and love in the most unlikely place.