A Funny Kind of Love

There are moments of bad taste black comic brilliance in this feature debut (originally called ‘The Little Death’) from Aussie actor-writer Josh Lawson. It riffs gently and broadly on various niche sexual interests by introducing us to four couples in the same suburban neighbourhood, each suffering from some form of extreme sexual desire or dysfunction. It opens teasingly with a close-up of toe-sucking and moves through fetishes relating to sleep, crying, role-playing and, very questionably, rape.
 
‘A Funny Kind of Love’ pushes sexual desire to the point of ridiculousness but does so with its tongue firmly in cheek, meaning its punchlines are more gooey than grim. At its best, Lawson’s glossy but squirmy film makes you think of the chutzpah of the recent Argentine portmanteau film ‘Wild Tales’. But he struggles to tie his disparate story strands together in any satisfying way and his film ends with an amusing whimper rather than an orgasmic howl.