Across Park City and beyond, the question on everyone’s mind has been: is I Want Your Sex the “return to form” for Gregg Araki, as described by director of programming Kim Yutani in her introduction to the film last night? Not quite. A ridiculous, sex-filled romp with entertaining stretches, his first feature in 12 years often plays like a lecture from one sexually liberated queer male to the reportedly sexless younger generation. And while Araki might have a point, there is something too direct in its approach.
Its structure comprises Elliot (Cooper Hoffman) relaying events of a whirlwind romance with his boss, fiery artist Erika Tracy (Olivia Wilde), which leads to the present in which he discovers her floating face-down in a pool (a direct nod to Sunset Boulevard, of course). Two detectives (Margaret Cho and Johnny Knoxville) listen to Elliot’s tale suspiciously. If Araki, an aging provocateur, oscillates between Elliot’s pure-heartedness and Tracy’s brash, fake-it-till-you-make-it confidence, these detectives inhabit the audience’s perspective, quick to point out clear power imbalances in this illicit workplace romance, mentioning “grooming” where applicable—a charge Elliot promptly dismisses. In Elliot’s mind, he wanted this relationship as much as she did, and his tone carries an open fondness for the story he weaves, despite it ruining his life in just about every conceivable way.
I Want Your Sex is Araki, at 66 years old, telling the younger generation that while life experiences can be painful and messy––and the flight instinct might scream at them to stay home and avoid at all cost––the alternative of being old and reflecting on missed opportunities is far more painful. To put it in more Araki-like terms: you only live once, so stop watching so much porn and get out there and connect with (i.e. bang) one another. Tracy gives Elliot countless mini-speeches to such effect, ranging from the entertaining to overly didactic. Elliot occasionally pushes back on Tracy’s dismissive attitude, at one point laying out a host of factors for why his generation isn’t having sex. But like Tracy’s speechifying, this retort feels unnatural, as if pulled from a think piece in the Atlantic or New York Times.
Elements of Luca Guadagnino’s After the Hunt are present in Sex‘s boomer perspective on woke culture, but the closer reference point might actually be Brian Jordan Alvarez’s FX series The English Teacher. That show looks at how a classically liberal gay Millennial interacts with the decidedly less-woke younger generation who don’t hold the same reverence for traditional institutions and politics that he’s been brought up to respect. The latter is the savvier depiction of the generational divide, and I Want Your Sex lacks a deep-enough perspective when surveying the younger generation.
The film’s sets are brightly lit and every wall looks like it was painted the day before shooting. This hyper-digital artifice is intentional, but does act to make it just a bit harder to get invested in the central relationship between Elliot and Tracy. Though Wilde’s portrayal is a blast to watch, the script offering her plenty of juicy lines, the character feels too removed from reality, a pure caricature of an art-world feminist who still wants the benefits that her male counterparts have enjoyed for decades (primarily in the fucking of interns). Hoffman’s performance works best when tied to his boyish charm. He’s the opposite side of the same coin as Marty Mauser in Marty Supreme. Whereas Marty deploys his charisma deliberately to manipulate, Elliot’s aimless persona allows him to land on his feet without much work. But Hoffman possesses limitations in dramatic scenes, and the script doesn’t lend him aid. His frequent refrain is some variation of “Are you fucking insane?” aimed at Tracy, who is often doing something that can only be described as “fucking insane.”
I Want Your Sex is not quite the comeback for Araki that’s been advertised, but it holds bright spots. For a special Sundance celebrating its last year in Park City and first since founder Robert Redford passed away, it makes too much sense to also celebrate an indie legend in Araki, who’s had a whopping eleven films premiere at the festival since its early-90s heyday.
I Want Your Sex premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.