Reviewed by GREG KING
Director: Renee Webster
Stars: Sally Phillips, Erik Thomson, Alexander England, Ryan Johnson, Josh Thompson, Ben Mortley, Cameron Daddo, Asher Yasbincek, Caroline Brazier, Myles Pollard, Roz Hammond, Hayley McElhinney.
What do women want?
Gina (British actress Sally Phillips, from the Bridget Jones trilogy, etc) is a middle-aged woman stuck in a loveless marriage with Adrian (Cameron Daddo), a stuffy, humourless, constantly distracted and workaholic attorney who has lost all interest in sex and romance. She and her small circle of friends regularly gather for early morning swims on the beach and to exchange gossip. But then on her fiftieth birthday her life takes a strange turn after her girlfriends gift her a male stripper. Rather than take advantage of the handsome and hunky Tom (Andrew England, from Alien: Covenant, etc) and his offer of a passionate encounter, she gets him to clean her house, albeit shirtless.
Then when she is made redundant from her job by her smarmy manager (Ben Mortley), which he calls a “restructure”, she recognises a unique business opportunity to transform the removalist trucking company that Tom also works for. The company is on the verge of bankruptcy, but Gina decides to reinvent it as an all-male house cleaning service business. However, the prospective female clientele also demand a little extra “service” along with the house cleaning.
With the help of the firm’s manager Steve (Erik Thomson, from Packed To The Rafters, etc), Gina restructures the company, redesigns its website, and instructs its three employees including Tom, Anthony (Ryan Johnson, from tv series Doctor Doctor, etc) and Ben (New Zealand actor Josh Thompson, from tv series Young Rock, etc) on how to deliver the extra services. Soon word begins to spread about Gina’s business venture and it becomes a success, but it also causes some problems for Gina.
How To Please A Woman is the debut feature film for writer/director Renee Webster, who has worked extensively in television on drama series like The Heights, etc). Despite the salacious and somewhat suggestive nature of the title though, for the most part Webster eschews too much explicit detail. This is a sex comedy and there is enough raunch to satisfy the target demographic though. Although not a laugh out loud comedy, there is some humour here, with the standout sequence involving a remote-controlled sex toy that tickles more than the funny bone.
The film is a polemic on female empowerment, sexuality, the frustrations experienced by many women trapped in unsatisfying jobs or relationships and it explores these themes in broad fashion. But it seems to ignore the broader implications of the legalities surrounding sex work, which forms a major part of the film’s plot. Some of the characterisation is pretty sketchy too and some remain underwritten. Phillips is the driving force of the film, and she delivers a solid performance that runs the gamut of emotions as she embarks on her voyage of self-discovery and sexual awakening. The women here all have that lived in look which adds a touch of verisimilitude to the material. And Thomson is charming enough as Steve.
The film boasts some nice production design from Emma Fletcher. The film was shot on location in Perth and its environs, and Ben Nott’s cinematography captures some beautiful vistas of the Perth seascapes. But this is tonally uneven and a bit episodic in nature, and it seems a bit rushed, especially with its busy third act which seems in a hurry to tie up the various narrative strands and find the requisite happy ending.
How To Please A Woman will certainly please its target demographic.
★★☆
