brooke shields Archives - Virginia Madsen

After Sex is a film from 2001, well. The one with Virginia Madsen is. There is another film from the French called After Sex in 1997, and then another from 2007 which is also called After Sex.

So, because it wouldn’t make sense otherwise, we’ll make sure we stick with the 2001 Virginia Madsen After Sex version.

Although that might not also be the best decision. This is another that I actually wasn’t looking forward to rewatching. In fact, it was pretty close to the bottom of the list and another I slipped into the DVD player with a sigh and me wondering what it was I was actually doing with my life.

After Sex, is a comedy drama type of film. Kate (Brooke Shields) receives a depressing phone call from her ex to let her know she’s now been officially divorced for a year. In a bid to make herself feel better she phones her friend Traci (Virginia Madsen) and basically tells her she’s off to Palm Springs for a girls weekend. She phones another mutual friend, Vicki (Maria Pitillo) to tell her the same who phones a fourth friend, Janet (Stephanie Venditto) and it’s all arranged.

Traci, Vicki and Janet are all partnered off already and in various stages of their relationships, but one of their gal pals needs their help so obviously they’re on board. Before you know it they’re off for a night of womanly revelary. Good for them.
They road trip there, arrive, have some shenanigans at the pool side. Have a round of Golf, injuring another Guest of the hotel. They’re all in high spirits and hit the town for the night. They end up meeting a bunch of men from various places.

Kate meets the bloke she injured on the Golf course earlier, because of course. Traci meets a nice chap at the bar she’s seemingly got a lot in common with. Vicki and Janet end up talking to some other, less desirable but harmless enough Dudes.

Vicki ends up putting her head between on the gentlemans lap, NO NOT LIKE THAT – She’s sick all over him after one too many cocktails… Tch. And, Janet – Well Janet ends up with one of the others.

In short, the girls all end up kind of paired off, there are some more awkward than others and the degrees of what we see differ. Kate and Janet both take their men home, Traci seemingly stops short and Vicki, well Vicki wonders about if anyone is eating her complimentary hotel chocolate.
The Boys left behind are left to prop up the bar. Well, the bar at the strip club, but still.

All good, right?

Well. Not really.

Kate wakes up alone, despite her asking for her man to stay the night. She’s sad that she has been let down again. She joins the other girls at breakfast, and there are obvious regrets about the night before from the three attached ladies. They somehow manage to pin and or blame their debauchery on Kate. Not really sure that’s fair, or accurate, but before you know it Kate is storming off.

And, honestly you can’t really blame her – I mean, c’mon Girls, take some responsibility for your actions…

The trip is cut short and the ride home is strained.

When they all arrive back at home, but the night away has changed them all in some way, and it isn’t long before the fellas they left back at home pick up on this.Initial suspicions are aroused when the ladies are home early, their partners all comment on it for one reason or another. It isn’t long before their trip slowly comes back to haunt them in one way or another.

Janet is the first to fall, she keeps her relationship with the man she met in Palm Springs going, her husband, John (Dan Cortese) finds out who then tells the rest of the husbands. Traci is next under suspicion from her husband Tony (D.B. Sweeney) and when Traci won’t confirm or deny anything he runs to the other husbands and before you can blink it’s Vicki under suspicion from her husband, Matt (Johnathon Schaech).

But maybe, just maybe Tony shouldn’t have pressed the issue with Traci…

… And maybe, just maybe Kate and Janet need to have a sit down at some point and talk, things, through.

I won’t say more than that. I’ve actually said more than I meant to do already, it’s not the easiest film to try and describe without going into more detail.

Did I enjoy it? Well. Yes, actually – Yes and no – It was a very different viewing experience than when I first watched it some 10 to 15 years ago (!!) – BUT – I’m a very different person also. I think my enjoyment might have come more from experience than anything else. Perhaps I wasn’t mature enough to appreciate the film the first time around.

It’s sort of a coming of age movie for grown ups. One, not so much about camaraderie among friends that you’ll think you’ll have for life. But more the reality of what can happen with those friends you’ll think you’ll have for life. A less optimistic view of the world.The film is billed as a dramedy, but it isn’t, really, It’s more drama than anything else. The relationships between the four couples on screen are quite relatable, and at times border on the uncomfortable. I think that’s the “No” of my “Yes and No”. If I wondered what I was doing with my life when I put the DVD in the player then at least by the end of it I’d know that I wasn’t the only one.

The whole movie is interspersed with scene relevant commentary from Drew Pinksky and Adam Carolla, which. I’m not sure if they were a thing or not at the time the movie was released, but. Their inclusion doesn’t seem to make a great deal of sense now. Especially to us in the UK who never really got Drew Pinksky and Adam Carolla anyways. And I might even argue we should be thankful for that after this offering from them.

Virginia Madsen plays a blinder in this one, I wouldn’t say it’s her best work, but man – Yeah – This is still the kind of work you want to see from her. Cute, quirky, honest and earnest. It’s a different side of her acting range than we normally see. Gone is the strong femme fatale type, hell even the “sexy” type. Instead we see a very real person portrayed, one that everyone will be able to emphasise with on some level. It’s a very human, vulnerable turn that she pulls off here.

Got to be fair to Brooke Shields in this one as well, I thought her go at Kate was pretty damn good as well. I’ve not seen her a lot in films, not normally my cup of tea, but – Yeah, fair play, I can see what some of the fuss is about her here.

Of course, Brooke Shields and Virginia Madsen would get together again years later for The Hot Flashes, another film about the highs and lows of life as a woman. Virginia Madsen has also acted with D B Sweeney before in the popular 80’s film Fire with Fire and would do again on the TV Show, The Event.

Would I recommend it? Well, if you’d asked me that before a second, more grown up viewing, I’d have said no. In retrospect, with a different head on my shoulders. Then, yes. Yes I would.

Availability:

Region 1 DVD is pretty easy to find on eBay and the like, but it’s not in abundance so if you’ve half an interest in this one you should grab it while you can.

Trailer:

Not for this one.

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The first time I came across this one was on Netflix. I wasn’t paying particularly close attention to Virginia Madsen’s career at that point and I saw her standing there with a bunch of ladies and a basketball.

It was late at night and I’d nothing else to do so I hit play. And, damn. I don’t know if it was because it was late at night or the idea of seeing something new from Virginia after a long time but I properly enjoyed it. For what it was at least.

The film centres around a group of middle aged women, some at the time when menopause is an issue in their lives. Beth Humphrey (Brooke Shields) is one of these women. She’s trying to get herself tested for Breast Cancer but is upset to learn her local Testing Centre is closing down due to the lack of funding.

Not just upset because it’s closing but upset because one of her close friends had died three years prior, she’d left the Centre a substantial amount of money so it could keep going and maybe help someone be more fortunate than herself. It turns out there has been a mistake with some paperwork and so the Centre can’t get the help it so desperately needs. For it to remain open it needs another $25,000.
Not willing to let it drop, Beth gets in touch with some of her old high school friends and arranges with them to raise the money for the Testing Centre to remain open with money being charged for various things to see them play and making bets on themselves to win.

Ginger Peabody (Daryl Hannah), Florine Clarkson (Wanda Sykes), Roxie Rosales (Camryn Manheim) and Clementine Winks (Mrs Madsen) have made it through life in many different ways with varying degrees of success, but they agree to help. Some are more willing than others…

And thus the ladies set about trying to prove everyone who thinks they can’t do it wrong and the film goes on. It’s an underdog’s tale, you know the ones.

I guess in some ways it’s kind of a modern take on Long Gone. It’s the same kind of story when you step back and look at it. Not a bad thing at all, just a Virginia related observation.
It does actually have a very noble and worthwhile purpose by bringing some awareness to Breast Cancer, at the film’s premiere the ladies walked down a pink carpet instead of a red one and it served as a benefit for the American Cancer Society.

Sheryl Crow, a breast cancer survivor herself would give an original song to the film “Leaning in a New Direction”

The film was released to mixed reviews, some enjoyed it for what it was (like myself) and others, in my opinion, took it all too seriously and bashed it for no real good reason other than they could. Not everything needs to be deep and meaningful for it to be worth watching.

And, personally I think it’s also worth some points for being a tale of “woman of a certain age” as well, they could so easily have swapped out the cast for some young nubile things which would have lessened the message behind the film. It crossed my mind when I was originally watching it but it seems as though the reviewers, and critics, of the film also picked up on the fact. Good.

[ahem] – Getting back to the film…
Virginia has spoken highly of the film, in an interview with The AV Club she has this to say;

“it was a straight-up offer, which is always appreciated. It’s always wonderful to just not have to audition for something. They sent me the script, and I had to be there in, like, two days, but… I think I probably said yes before I read it, because of the cast and the director and just that it was a story about all of these incredible women. I mean, all that cast on one script? I was like, “This can’t be real. This is mine? You want me to be in this with these girls? Yes!” So I said yes without finishing the script. I think I read about 30 pages, and I was like, “Yeah, I’ll do it.” And, luckily, I was in really good shape, so I was ready and up for the challenge. I generally don’t like any sports that involve running. [Laughs.]

But the thing is, when you get a role, actors will do anything to make that role sing. Just the fact that I can have live bees all over me in Candyman proves that we’ll do anything, basically, for a good performance. [Laughs.] So I thought, “Well, I don’t know how to play basketball, but if I look cool, then it’ll be okay.” But that didn’t work, because with this, you really have to know how to dribble the ball, and I couldn’t even do that. They’d all had a basketball clinic, and we had a great coach named Carla who was a professional basketball player, but I pretty much went from the airport to the court, so they all just rallied around me. They just played and played and played. And while shooting, every moment between takes I was learning how to dribble, how to do a layup, and it was really, really hard. It was physically very challenging, which is exciting and appealing to me. I love physical challenge

And it turned out I was pretty good at it! As soon as I knew how to do a layup, I was like, “Oh, that’s it! That’s how you do that!” The girls were really badass, and they just helped me to feel confident. That day, we became a team.”

And you know what? It is good to see all the ladies come together here, I’d like to say Virginia steals the show, but she doesn’t. There is an obvious camaraderie about the gang and I’d be willing to bet there are a few tales to be told from behind the cameras. Of course, the film reunites Virginia Madsen with Brooke Shields who were both previously in After Sex together, and, this is a much better film for both of their talents.

Availability:
Good. Lots of cheap copies on DVD (in a snazzy pink case of course) and it can be found on streaming (like I did originally).

Gallery: