Virtual Sexuality

Whether or not the world needs a new wave of tributes to John Hughes' teen-Bratpack films of the '80s must be a matter of opinion, but it seems we might have to brace ourselves anyway.

With the exception of schlock-horror like Scream, there has been something of a dearth of pure 'teen' movies over the last decade, a gap that Virtual Sexuality intends to plug. Best described as a girlie version of Weird Science with more than a hint of Neighbours in the background, Virtual Sexuality is daft, ridiculous, funny and appealing all at the same time, with a highly photogenic young cast acting out a rather sweet narrative which was written by one Nick Fisher, a former agony uncle for Just Seventeen magazine (it shows).

How on earth I ended up liking it, I don't know. Three little boys and three little girls hatch plots among themselves which invariably concern their dealings with the opposite sex, and conveniently enough, the characters concerned are a collection of handy stereotypes.

The heroine, Justine (Laura Fraser) is a sweet-natured 17-year-old virgin who dreams of finding her Mr. Right; her best pal (Marcelle Duprey) is an interfering know-all full of good intentions, while their classmate Hoover (Natasha Bell) is a pneumatic busty blonde with a gigantic sexual appetite, who is rather popular with the males in the class. These are led by Alex (Kieran O'Brien) a swaggering loudmouth, while a shy retiring geek called Chas (Luke de Lacy) has long since counted himself out of the game. Rounding off the sextet is a blonde Adonis (Rupert Penry-Jones).

What ensues is basically an Aussie daytime soap opera moved to London, but with considerably more wit, brain and heart. Justine falls in love with Jake who falls in love with Hoover who falls in lust with everybody - you get the general drift. Even the film's most fanatical fans would be hard pushed to describe Virtual Sexuality as anything other than breezy summertime fluff - but it's bright, buzzy, good-looking and completely lacking in cynicism, which is all you could possibly ask from something such as this.