Shortbus [DVD] [2006]

This film is a very cheerful, humorous and winning film that celebrates the diversity of human sexuality. This means that it's going to annoy some people. If you're looking for porn, you're not looking for diversity: frankly be better off buying something that appeals directly to whatever kink you have. For others it may open the mind to other possibilities, and I think it's a good watch for couples particularly. I enjoyed it very much - it's very likeable and jolly pic that encourages you to relax and enjoy yourself and put aside your prejudices about other people's behaviour. Of course there is explicit sex in it, and I feel that it's more positive than that in some of the real-sex movies we've seen recently, such as Romance and 9 Songs, which in an effort to avoid the charge of pornography seem to portray shagging as rather shabby, guilty pursuits. I liked one small relationship between an old and a young man, which is rather touching.It's worth watching the extras, particularly the orgy sequence material in which the actor playing Leah asks the director to wait a second as she really needs to cum...

For anyone who was wondering what 'Hedwig and the Angry Inch'-meister John Cameron Mitchell had been up to since that film came out, well, he was making this little baby. Shortbus is billed as being shocking, sexually explicit and whatever else, but while it may be the most sexually explicit 'mainstream' movie I've ever seen (the opening sequence intercuts between a man pleasuring himself in a uniquely gymnastic way and a cute multi-racial couple having very noisy and athletic sex all over their apartment) it's not meant to be shocking at all.It's actually a rather sweet story on that fine old theme of American movies: Sex is Good for You. Perhaps the classic expression of this theme during my adolescence was Kevin Bacon introducing the delights of dancing to his uptight small town schoolmates; we all knew that dancing was really a metaphor for gettin' it on. Mitchell is not inhibited by convention, and focuses his story on the tale of Sofia (Sook-Yin Lee), a sex therapist ('I prefer the term Couples Counsellor') who has a lot of sex with her husband but who has never had an orgasm. Mitchell said that he noticed that a lot of sexually explicit films were coming out of Europe recently in which the sex was pretty bleak and/or depressing (probably thinking of kind of interesting but basically dispiriting movies like 'Intimacy' and 'Nine Songs'); being an American, he wanted to tell a more cheerful story.This film has more erect penises in it than I, as a straight man, have ever seen gathered together in one movie. But the film isn't ultimately about showing you lots of sex; the story is told through the sex, demanding total commitment from the fine cast. It's a warm, funny and touching story about the value of community. As the increasingly frustrated Sofia, Lee (a popular Canadian radio personality, apparently) is both adorable and gifted with sharp comic timing. Lindsay Beamish is splendid as a glum dominatrix, and the rest of the cast is very good. Special stars for Alan Mandell as a former mayor of New York bearing a startling resemblance to one famous bachelor who had that job, and Shanti Carlson who plays one half of the Beautiful Couple that represents everything Lee's character doesn't have; one of the emotional high points of the film is a look Carlson throws Lee across the room during a particularly heated orgy. There wasn't a dry eye in the living room.Heartwarming, really. You just have to be prepared to watch a lot of men and women having sex with each other in pretty much every permutation imaginable. (Director Mitchell, a lifelong homosexual, played a 'sextra' during the orgy sequence and, as an 'act of solidarity', reportedly got intimate with a woman for the first time in his life.)

When I first saw this, I was back home in my quite little university town about to move to London, hoping I'd find a "Shortbus" here. To my dismay London (nor New York for that matter) have a "Shortbus" and this is entirely fictional. I loved this movie entirely and believe that, yes it's about sex, but it's about sex in a funny, honest and caring way. It explores all aspects of it and the characters are very likable and very human in a New York kind of way.I have yet to have the opportunity to visit New York, but I definitely believe I will try and find my little "Shortbus" when I do visit.Thoroughly recommend this movie and hope everyone tries to find their "Shortbus" after seeing it, the same way I try to find it.

Very disappointed. The running time of this is advertised as 1 hour and 41 minutes but the film only runs for 1 hour and 37 minutes. If you look on the photo, for the back and zoom in towards the bottom, it clearly tells you the running time.Misleading information!!!

Arrived about three weeks after ordering which is fine.There's a lot of pornography so an open mind would be useful.I watched this film when it was first released many years ago and I enjoy it but second time around not so much,at times there's a lot of deep conversations which I found boring.Loved the soundtrack and have the cd.To sum up be prepared for a lot of pornography and don't show your gran, unusual movie but one watch would be enough

Suprise a movie with story of many people unconnected lives that meet at times throughout the plot...Excellent Sexual shoots without being boring or whatever you see and feel from eyes that take in all...So would give it thumbs up for some visual arts that worked on me.....brilliant acting helps..."Some people cant just think they can" loved it and big thanks to all that made it...The movie..Keep your head up please...Chao

I really enjoyed this movie. Lots of interesting dysfunctional characters with different stories that weave in and out of each other.After watching it I was left with a real "Feelgood" emotion you dont get too often from movies ( Juno was another recent one ! ).If you are not offended by lots of sex, of all kinds, you just might find a small gem here.

Less imaginative or exploratory than anticipated after all the hype. Not overly original and kinda trails off into a Clockwork Orange theme towards the end.