Just Doing It

Directed by Joe and Harry Gantz, of HBO’s popular Taxicab Confessions, Sex With Strangers follows three couples in the swinging “lifestyle.” Mississippians Shannon and Gerard realized they were cheating on one another, and decided to do so with other couples together so as to eliminate the whole dishonesty thing. Washingtonians Sara and Calvin don’t actually swing together as much, but rather seem like a dysfunctional coupling in which he just wants to get laid a lot and she’ll do anything to hang on to him. Meanwhile, Virginians James and Theresa drive their motor home around the country, setting up in parking lots outside clubs where they can catch possible sex partners on the way out. The sex is wild, but many of the bigger issues brought up by the film get ignored: How, for instance, can employers get away with firing people just because they swing? You wish the film would’ve just been about James and Theresa, who are the most fun.