Why so much hype?

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

I don't have much exposure to Aussie film as they rarely make it mainstream USA theater. I think the last one I saw was "Mureil's Wedding", which was incredibly funny, touched with enough raw emotion to make you identify with the cast, and leaving with a good warm feeling. That was my take on this one. I have a twisted love for the disturbing films ("Requiem for a Dream", " Black Swan"....)...you get the drift. But there is something about Aussie film that I find very appealing. Maybe it's their Disneyesque, all is well feeling with just enough realism to be believable. The acting is superb in "My Year Without Sex" , especially the the children, Louis and Ruby....where are they now?? Thank God for the Sundance Channel!!!!

I attended the North American Premiere of "My Year Without Sex" at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival. The obviously titillating and suggestive title may be a bit misleading, but writer/director Sarah Watt has hit the jackpot with this sweet little Australian dramedy. After a brain aneurysm, Natalie (Sacha Horler) is advised by her doctor to avoid certain risky behaviors. Mayhem ensues. The script is sexy without being too bawdy, but I'd recommend it for ages 14+ and there are some Aussie references that may get past viewers. I loved the cute soundtrack and clever structure, with title cards presenting each month of the year as a separate segment with its own sexually suggestive title (Foreplay, Going Down...). But strong performances make this film worth seeing.

On the face of it this is pretty mundane stuff, a year in the life of an ordinary Western Suburbs Melbourne family, but Sarah Watts, responsible for another charming domestic drama, "Look Both Ways", is able to invest the story with a great deal of charm. She demonstrates without resorting to soap opera clichés that life in the suburbs can indeed be life on the edge.Natalie (Sasha Horler) a hard-working mother of two suffers a brain aneurism, fortuitously while at the doctor's. She recovers but is advised to avoid strenuous activities, including sneezing and having sex with her loving husband Ross (Matt Day). In the next twelve months, each neatly packaged into an episode, life does not go easily. Natalie has to give up her job, Matt is threatened with redundancy, the car is written off in a holiday accident, the clothes dryer self-destructs, the family dog is attacked, and the house gets more untidy than ever. But the family survives and the film ends on a positive note.This is a film most Australians would identify with. The family's situation is real and Watt generates a fair degree of humour out of it. There's Louis, a 12 year old Aussie Rule fanatic, Ruby, a cute 8 year old, and a much-loved dog, Bubblehead. There are some dodgy rich friends they envy and Ross (a sound engineer at a radio station) has a collection of odd workmates. Christmas and Easter are times of trial as well as celebration. Religious feeling hovers in the wings, especially in the person of former one-hit wonder pop-star turned priest Margaret (Maud Davey). Like most Australians the family are practising hedonists, but Natalie's brush with death does stimulate some deeper questions for them. Apart from the teasing chapter titles there's not much about sex in the picture, but there is a warm understanding of what makes families work. These are ordinary people kept together by their regard for one another. Money matters but it does not rule them. There's not a lot of support from their friends but they get by, somehow. Sasha Horler puts in an extraordinary performance, and Matt Day's rather self-effacing character complements her beautifully. Jonathan Segat as Louis the football fanatic is also extremely convincing. Unfortunately the $4 million budget does not leave a lot for promotion and this film will probably not be widely seen. It is more of a comedy and less of a drama than "Look Both Ways", but it is directed with assurance and flair.

I enjoyed watching this film. I laughed and I shed a tear. I would like to watch it again as there are parts of the movie that are worth re-examining.Set in the inner western suburbs of Melbourne, this film touches on many of the day-to-day issues that Australian families are concerned with. Whether it be paying bills, how to bring up children, career management and of course, inter-personal relations.At an even deeper level, this movie examines a post-Christian society and some of the ways that people address the existential questions.Covering such a broad range of issues in a film means that only one of them is examined in depth. What keeps a marriage together "in sickness and in health?".One thing did get under my skin. The annoying cliché that portrays the struggling family as virtuous and their richer, flamboyant relatives as morally deficient.