On my spring break trip in 2008, a bunch of us were gearing up for a kickass week of craziness and maybe a sexual escapade or two. One of the friends on our trip, maybe the biggest partier/flirter of us all, found out about 2 days in, that he failed a few of his classes. This completely torpedoed any excitement he was gonna have, and threw the vibes off for us for a few days, finally getting it back eventually by the end of the trip. That type of energy is permeating How to Have Sex, but in a more female, more vulnerable, and obviously more tragic way than what happened to my buddy for just a few days.
Because when we meet 16 year old Tara (an incredible Mia McKenna-Bruce), she’s the life of the party. She’s on a summer vacation trip to Malia Crete with her two best mates Em (Enva Lewis) and Skye (Lara Peake). The lone virgin on the trip, Tara is excited but also a bit nervous about hooking up for the first time. She draws the attention of hotel neighbor Badger (Shaun Thomas), who invites his hotel mates Paddy (Samuel Bottomley) and Paige (Laura Ambler) for a pregame, hopefully leading to something fun and maybe romantic by the end of the night.
Molly Manning Walker has clearly had an island vacay or two. These British trips are very similar to US spring breaks, designed for hot young kids to sew their wild oats. Walker does a great job putting the audience in the headspace of Tara and our other ladies. Half of the time is spent out and about, dancing in pulsating night clubs, or at the hotel swimming pool, eating chips and laughing/making memories with your best friends. The other half is after those nights, sorting out what happened that night, and gearing back up for the next one. While this could get repetitive, each new night brings new memories and moments, good and bad; Walker has our trio end up at different points on different nights showing how each of them is making different memories, and more importantly, how this extreme shock to their friendship is secretly a test of how good that friendship actually is. By the end of How to Have Sex, you feel as hungover and exhausted as Tara is, remembering a blur of crazy nights and hopefully not but perhaps like her never forgetting the deep lows on the come down from those hazy nights.
Because there’s no “National Lampoon presents” in front of How to Have Sex. Those expecting a raunch fest will come out of what might be the most emotionally wrenching film this year. I would have killed to spend a fun night with anyone like Tara. She’s silly and loving in all the right ways, just wanting everyone to have a good time and make some memories that can last her a life time. Walker and McKenna-Bruce really show how everyone who spends anytime to really know Tara is happier for it, regardless if sex is involved or not. But in a place like Malia, most people aren’t interesting in getting to know you if you’re a beautiful girl: they’re interesting in getting inside you. Tara isn’t mature enough to recognize the difference between the two yet, and also not confident enough to assert herself if she’s uncomfortable, a dangerous concoction that even more dangerous men can take advantage of. And when Tara gets in scary situations? Her friends are nowhere to be found, either smitten with a fling or maybe only interested in “friendship” as a means to use her for what they lack in themselves. This leaves Tara, alone, going to personal places she never expected she would on the fun “summer vacay.” As you might expect, there’s a “walk of shame” in the middle of this film, that’s in the running for the most upsetting sequences of the year, as this is the one moment where our main character has a chance to let out all those feelings she’s buried until that point in the trip. Movies designed to be really sad never hit the lows How to Have Sex goes to, because we’re witnessing the slow motion destruction of a beautiful innocent person, in real time, not knowing if they’ll ever recover.
So, SPRING BREAK, y’all! How to Have Sex would be a fascinating double feature with Spring Breakers. Both are going after the same general problem with party culture: it’s inherent emptiness. And frankly, it’s saying something that James Franco’s Alien is better than most of the boys Tara meets in this movie, not a good sign when James Franco is the good one. Justice for Tara, y’all!