‘I Want Your Sex’ Review: Gregg Araki Turns a Dominatrix Romance Into a Loud, Messy Argument for Getting Off the Couch
Gregg Araki has spent over a decade away from feature filmmaking, and his return arrives with a title designed to make you flinch before you even sit down. ‘I Want Your Sex’ follows Elliot, a wide eyed recent college graduate played by Cooper Hoffman, who takes an assistant job for Erika Tracy, a provocateur artist played by Olivia Wilde, and quickly finds himself recruited into her sexual orbit as both muse and submissive.
The film premiered at Sundance this year, arriving with a reputation for explicit content and a plot that flirts with a police investigation subplot before mostly abandoning it in favor of character dynamics. Charli xcx, Mason Gooding, Daveed Diggs, and Chase Sui Wonders round out a cast that gives the movie a scrappy, ensemble energy even as the central relationship dominates almost every scene.
What actually works here is the chemistry between Wilde and Hoffman, and it works better than I expected going in. Wilde plays Erika as a woman who has weaponized confidence into a kind of performance art, and there is real pleasure in watching her toy with Elliot’s nervous devotion without ever losing the comic register underneath it. Hoffman, for his part, sells the whiplash of a kid who wanted an internship and got something closer to an initiation.
Where the film stumbles is in its structure. The mystery element that opens the story promises stakes that never really materialize, and by the back half the movie seems to know it, coasting on vibes and set pieces rather than escalating tension. Araki’s instincts for provocation are intact, but the shock value here feels calculated rather than dangerous, more interested in getting a reaction than following through on the ideas it raises about consent, control, and generational discomfort with intimacy.
I also found myself wishing the film trusted its satire more. There is a sharp idea buried in here about a generation that has grown oddly squeamish about sex, and when the movie leans into that thesis directly, through Erika’s blunt provocations and Elliot’s fumbling self discovery, it sings. But it keeps retreating into broad gags and music video flourishes that undercut the sting, as if Araki wasn’t fully confident the satire alone would land with an audience raised on algorithmic content rather than confrontation.
Visually, the movie is a candy colored, needle drop heavy experience that never lets you forget you’re watching an Araki film, even during its more restrained stretches. The costuming and production design do a lot of heavy lifting, giving Erika’s world a tactile, lived in maximalism that makes her seem like she actually could exist somewhere in the Los Angeles art scene rather than as a screenwriter’s fantasy.
Charli xcx’s brief appearance adds a jolt of star wattage without overstaying its welcome, and the supporting cast gives the film texture even when the script leans on them for punchlines rather than real characterization.
By the time the credits roll, ‘I Want Your Sex’ has made its case for itself as a return to form that isn’t quite as sharp as Araki’s earlier work but still carries his voice loud and clear. It’s funnier than it is transgressive, and more interested in charm than danger, which is a trade off I didn’t expect going in but ultimately didn’t mind. The film knows exactly what kind of ride it’s offering, and for most of its runtime, that ride is a genuinely enjoyable one, even when it loses its nerve in the final stretch.
I walked away entertained more than provoked, charmed more than challenged, and that’s a fair trade for a film this committed to its own weird sense of fun. Wilde and Hoffman carry more of the movie’s ambitions than the script ultimately earns, but their performances alone make the back half worth sitting through. This is a good time at the movies with a genuine point buried somewhere inside its glitter, even if it doesn’t dig quite as deep as it could have. I am giving it a solid 8 out of 10.
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