"The last time I was happy, I got so fat."

If you chuckle during Andie MacDowell's famous line in Sex, Lies and Videotape, you'll probably think of her sister, Laura San Giacomo as the lead. If you laugh yourself silly, knowing Andie's confession is also true for you, you'll probably think of her as the lead. My weight has always been a direct correlation of my happiness, so that line been added to my household phrases!

If you've never seen it, you'll have to put on your 1989 goggles before renting Steven Soderbergh's breakthrough indie movie. By today's standards, this movie is tame. In 1989, it was shocking and actually considered quite nasty. It was a time before the internet, before photos and videos were constantly taken and spread around, and a time when movies didn't always show nudity and graphic sex scenes. By today's standards, it's not really an oddity if a young man prefers to film and watch sexual encounters rather than to participate in them, but in 1989, James Spader's character was very unusual. Just like most photographers or videographers, he uses the lens to distance himself from situations. He asks people questions about their sexual experiences, and when the women answer him honesty, it's supposed to be very daring. It was daring in 1989!

The other part of the plot is a love triangle involving the dreamy Peter Gallagher. He's married to Andie, but having an affair with her sister, Laura. I've played Laura's part in two separate college reproductions, so I've studied the script probably far more than the average viewer. There's quite a bit to analyze in Soderbergh's script, which film students have been discussing for thirty years. It's a bit of a love-it-or-hate-it movie, so if you watch it and shrug, don't feel like you're missing something. There are plenty of people who think it's overrated and weird, just as there are plenty of people who think it's a staple in indie movies.

A strange, but very rewarding movie. Soderbergh has went on to create many wonderful films since "Sex, Lies and Videotape" but what has captured my attention about this film is his how he kept the film simple and concentrated on the details around the four characters. He mentions in the commentary of his influence of Eric Rohmer (who created the popular films as part of his "Six Moral Tales") and the long dialogue between characters. Maybe it made no impression to me back then but now, any director who can have their characters engage in dialogue with meaning and profoundness is wonderful.

Andie MacDowell was the surprising star because in the beginning, I thought she would be the typical jilted housewife but we see her character emerge as one that is confused to one that finally gains perspective. Laura San Giacomo did well in portraying the free-will Cynthia (which she would go on to do again in "Pretty Woman"), John Mullany (Peter Gallagher) was the ultimate sleezeball and for Graham (Spader), his character was mysterious and although the viewer doesn't know exactly what had happen to him, it's how the character was changed after changing the character he videotaped. As the film itself, one can see how this independent film helped revolutionize indie films and allowing media coverage. Sure, we see independent films, art-house films receive media coverage today but in the context of independent films getting seen by a wide audience, "Sex, Lies, and Videotape" was definitely instrumental in being part of that small group of films that Hollywood would give a chance to.

Overall rating: 8 out of 10.