A Little Sex (1982) from Johnny Web (Uncle Scoopy; Greg Wroblewski) and Tuna

You ever wonder why you never heard of Gwyneth Paltrow's dad? It's because this movie was the summit of his theatrical directing career in the 20th century. In fact, this was the one and only theatrical feature he directed in that century. He did this in 1982, and it was a bomb of sufficient nuclear force to assure that he'd not work on feature films again until his daughter became a star. He had a long wait. It was 18 years later when he directed Gwyneth in Duets. He never directed again after Duets, and died two years later, aged only 58.

A Little Sex is a dismal flop of a romantic comedy, neither romantic nor comedic. The characters get married, but the husband is one of those guys with satyriasis, and just can't stay faithful, even though his wife is the love of his life. She catches him, they separate ... you can figure out the rest. No surprises.

The romance is between Tim Matheson and Kate Capshaw, who didn't seem to like each other very much. Who could blame them? I didn't like  either of their characters, and they won't soon be mistaken for "Ken and Em" in the acting department. Capshaw almost single-handedly sabotaged the Indiana Jones series, while Matheson's film successes pretty much began and ended with Animal House.

(TRIVIA: did you know that a teenaged Tim Matheson was the voice of Jonny Quest?)

The woeful casting of these two was a rare misfire for the legendary casting director Howard Feuer, who has done some of the best casting in motion picture history. For example, he was the casting director for Silence of the Lambs, Basic Instinct, and Groundhog Day, three movies with spot-on characterizations which have deservedly become part of screen lore. There were many, many more successes in his career, and very few failures, so you have to figure there's probably a great story behind his choices in this movie, but I don't know what that story is.

Weak film. Even the nude scene is a rip-off. See the Nudity Report.

A Little Sex (1982) is a romantic comedy starring Tim Matheson as a man who can't say no to a woman, and attracts most of them, and Kate Capshaw as the girl he lives with, and decides to marry. The question is, can he develop some willpower? Matheson's brother is used for exposition, as Matheson confides in him. He goes through a period where he resist every opportunity, but there seems to be nothing but attractive, willing women in his world. He convinces himself that not cheating is putting a strain on the marriage. Then he gets caught, and Capshaw leaves. Only then does he realize what he may have lost.