Rent Virtual Sexuality (1999)

A nice shot of retro, pre-millenium nostalgia, which sadly doesn't really say anything - Virtual Sexuality review by TB

From the makers of Trainspotting (who if you look closely there is a cheeky Easter Egg/reference to in one scene,) comes this film set at the turn of the millennium, just as computers, gaming & the promise of virtual reality were starting to gain traction.

Justine is a 17 year old virgin, who is frustrated at seeing her friends all either have carefree sex or be in relationships. Her best friend, a geeky guy called Chas, who also has a crush on her, takes her to a computer fair where she goes into a machine which then brings to life her idea of the perfect guy. We then follow Jake (her creation,) as he navigates the new world he has been brought into.

Whilst there are some inspired visual flourishes, along with some retro music that brings back memories of my childhood spent listening to the Pepsi chart with Dr Fox, this is actually a quite rudderless & meandering film. Any profound questions that are raised about expectations & navigating your way in the world as a young woman are only cursorily approached before being dismissed with statements about how much was spent on perfume being the reason why one character hasn't been successful with men.

There are also, and this is much more my humour, some unintentional funny moments which are not treated as such in the film; the main one being when the house of the parents of one of the characters gets half destroyed & there is basically no reaction from either of them...

When unintentional humour gets more of a laugh than most of the jokes, you know you're in trouble. An interesting look back at how things were 25 years ago, but nothing more than