Adventures on the Internet

In a tale of modern-day relationships Ben Kingsley (as David Kepesh) portrays the emptiness of life as a successful academic/author/media celebrity. Apparently Kepesh has it all - successful academic and media careers, long term girlfriend for no-strings-attached sex, close friendship with poet George O'Hearn (Dennis Hopper), and a regular supply of female students, courtesy of his literary theory course. However, when Consuela (Penelope Cruz) -a student 30 years his junior- attempts to put their relationship onto a more conventional footing, Kepesh must confront the insecurity of his position, infatuated with a woman he knows he must eventually lose. His equivocation ensures his fate, even before the final twist in the tale signals a more permanent ending.

The film's more entertaining moments arise in the dialogues between Kepesh and O'Hearn, and in the latter role Hopper delivers all the best lines, both comic and illuminating. But perhaps the most telling observation is uttered by Patricia Clarkson, playing Kepesh's long term girlfriend, who in reference to Internet dating reflects that "We pay for the silences, and the same conversations, over and over again..."

In a touching and tender documentary, independent film-maker Chris Waitt interviews a selection of ex-girlfriends about the reasons they dumped him. A journey of self-discovery ensues, both for Waitt and perhaps also for the receptive viewer.
As well as interviewing old flames, Waitt also essays a number of therapies including psycho-sexual counselling, hypnotherapy and acupuncture. He also experiments with drug-based treatment for erectile dysfunction, with the usual result. (He gets a "massive erection" and runs around the West End of London asking any woman he encounters to have sex with him, until he has his collar felt and spends a night in the cells.)
Searching for a new girlfriend via a social networking Internet site, Waitt takes a trip to Madame Maisie's dungeon where the obliging hostess punishes him by flaying his genitals. This scene may not suit all tastes.
In view of Waitt's numerous shortcomings, both revealed by former girlfriends and manifest during the course of shooting the film, it is perhaps surprising that he has had so many relationships and that some of them lasted as much as three or four years. There's hope for us all.