James Spader, Andie MacDowell, Peter Gallagher

Steven Soderbergh's provocative debut film concerns a shy loner who uses a video camera to extract intimate confessions from his married friends.

Flixster Users

74% liked it

8,961 ratings

Critics

97% liked it

32 critics

R, 1 hr. 40 min.

Directed by: Steven Soderbergh

Release Date: January 20, 1989

Invite friends to see

DVD Release Date: August 28, 2001

Stats: 962 reviews

Get movie widget Recommend it Add to Favorites

Your Rating



clear rating

Flixster Reviews (962)


  • September 19, 2009
    I didn't really care for this movie. It did have a good cast, but it was just really weird and pointless to me.
  • May 31, 2009
    I can appreciate this film as a modern milestone in independent filmmaking. The acting is pretty decent.
  • April 17, 2009
    "Nothing's what I thought it was. John's a bastard. Let's make a videotape."

    A sexually repressed woman's husband is having an affair with her sister. The arrival of a visitor with a rather unusual fetish changes everything

    ...( read more)REVIEW
    For all intensive purposes, this is Steven Soderbergh's directorial debut. That fact is never apparent once throughout the movie - not once. Soderbergh applies his great touch to this movie in very discreet ways. I think the most effective is in the way he sums up an entire relationship by showing quick sequences which feature exchanged glances or small, but revealing, interactions between two characters. That's what I mean about "discreet". He never gets up in your face with this film. He gives the viewer more of a fly-on-the-wall type of point of view. Which is perfect for the subject matter. Soderbergh also wrote (and was nominated for) the script. With all that said, I don't want to overlook the four great performances here by the main cast (James Spader, Peter Gallagher, Andie MacDowell, Laura San Giacomo). For all four of them, I feel it is their best performance ever. Each one of them really nails the character. This is especially true for Spader. At times he's confident, and self-righteous. At times he is desperate and pathetic.

    Great movie.
  • March 19, 2009
    Smart, dialogue-driven piece of cinema where it\s actually a lot of fun to watch all these characters cheat on each other. You start to wonder if this movie had an influence on Closer. James Spader delivers an outstanding performance.
  • January 16, 2009
    There's not much to say about sex, lies, and videotape wihout giving everything away... or perhaps giving everything is the same as giving nothing? Steven Sorderbergh's debut fully grasps the importance of human amibiguities, and thus creates a world full of open possibilities, w...( read more)here currents flow in every direction and with fluctuating intensity. I admire films that manage to craft multidimensional characters, and expose -seemingly effortlessly- how humans are not only one thing, how they can be contradictory, and yet perfect as they are. In sex, lies, and videotape, the four main characters exist in total opposition to our usual custom of labelling people as 'good' or 'bad'. In the lapse of less than 2 hours they manage to make plausible and moving changes that characterize them further as themselves, in all their potential, rather than shift them from 'nice' to 'mean', 'moral' to 'immoral'. That's more than I can say about most films.

    If you don't already know the story, I'd hate to ruin it for you, but a little bit of revealing can do no harm... Sex, Lies, and Videotape is about an unhealthy love triangle and a taboo-brekaing figure that comes into the picture to shatter it. James Spader is spot-on as Graham: perfectly mysterious, somewhat self-conscious, perfectly neither-here-nor-there. His performance never gives away too much or too little about this cryptic character that we don't really get to know all that well, but perhaps just enough. Graham is an old college buddy of John, a rising lawyer who's married to the excessively moral Ann and having an affair with her sister Cynthia. Graham comes clean during the first few minutes in which he is onscreen about his impotence, something that Ann finds fascinating, since she is thoroughly uninterested in sex, and gives his husband a virtually non-existent sex life (which he makes up for with Cynthia). From this point on, every character is on its way to a transgression, during which they refrain from becoming heroes or demi-gods, just happier, more conscious, more open people. Soderbergh puts each of them in confrontation with their fears and guides them to their most logical breaking point -and the entire process is touching, tough, it's deeply involving.

    Peter Gallagher, Laura San Giacomo, Andie MacDowell and James Spader are so fantastic. They act like the people they play (wow), down to every sinlge idiosyncracy, making every line they utter believable and familiar. They are never too classy or too poised or too carefree, they are who they are. Of course, it is greatly thanks to the script, which is intelligent without being witty, engaging without being effectist, and dramatic without going overboard.

    sex, lies, and videotape could be said to be about sex (although there is hardly any actual 'action' onscreen), but it's really about many other issues. I think what those issues might have been for me, could be different for somebody else, and so on. There's plenty to think of when the movie is over. And I think it's best just to lose yourself in it.
  • November 6, 2009
    Great dubut from one of my favorite directors.
  • September 11, 2009
    Add a review (optional)...
  • August 4, 2009
    "Men learn to love the person they're attracted to, while women become more and more attracted to the person they love."

    A very deep film, that explores realms of sexuality. The title pretty much sums up what you can expect overall. Prepare for some great acting, and some extrem...( read more)ely intriguing dialogue though. This is something to have you pondering desire, and where you stand in the world, sexually. If not, maybe you can just sit back and check out this film that takes you on a bit of a wild journey.

    "Never take advice from someone you've never had sex with..."

    Some things that will no doubt have you thinking, regardless......... a very entertaining and smart film.
  • July 21, 2009
    Rather interesting concept with some decent acting, actually a good film, but the high sexual content was a bit of a turn off... haha pardon the pun.
  • July 14, 2009
    Well, I don't watch a lot movies that made in the year of 1980s, but to me this film has a really weird directing style... Well, all you can say is this is a debut movie from Steven Soderbergh, one of the top class director in Hollywood right now... So for me, this movie proves n...( read more)othing, except for the unique idea they got here.. But the story?? It's really bad, too much talking especially... Overall, not an outstanding debut from Soderbergh, but a memorable one because of the controversy...

Critic Reviews


January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

It is never boring, and there are moments when it reminds us of how sexy the movies used to be, back in the days when speech was an erogenous zone. full review

View more sex, lies, and videotape reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • Rossjm
    August 5, 2008
    "The Worst Movie! It Is a Terrible Porn Movie!
    If I filmed myself on the Toilet, It was a better movie. And yet, people Love it!"

    You fucking idiot Alicostner. It's not meant to be a porn movie!
  • titolala
    November 20, 2007
    video

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Official Trailer

More Like This


Click a thumb to vote on that suggestion, or add your own suggestions.

  • Body Heat
    Body Heat (100%)
  • To Die For
    To Die For (100%)
  • Life Is Beautiful (La Vita è bella)
    Life Is Beautiful (La Vita è bella) (9%)
  • Full Frontal
    Full Frontal (100%)

Theater Showtimes & TV Listings


sex, lies, and videotape Trivia


  • James Spader records Andie McDowell's & Laura San Giacomo's lies about sex on videotape?  Answer »
  • In the movie "Sex, Lies, and Videotape", Graham says that the two lowest forms of life on Earth are liars and??  Answer »
  • "Sex, Lies, and Videotape" (1989) was the directorial debut of who?  Answer »
  • complete the title sex, lies and what else?  Answer »

Recent News


No recent headlines. Got one?

Most Popular Skin


No skins yet. Interested in creating one?