Coming Soon (1999) – a Movie Review

Coming Soon revolves around three female high school seniors and their quest to have the elusive female orgasm. Bonnie Root stars as Stream Hodsell, the naïve small town girl who moved to Manhattan two years ago. Gabby Hoffman is Jenny Simon the rich sarcastic girl whose daddy’s money buys her everything including acceptance to the college of her choice. Tricia Vessey is Nell Kellner, the animal lover who try’s too hard to please her parents. Warning: My movie review contains plot spoilers.

Coming Soon was touted as an American Pie for girls. That is a pretty accurate statement. The movie contains lots of sexual references and some sex scenes with a girl’s point of view. The beginning of the movie starts with Stream sleeping with a popular senior at a party. She doesn’t seem to be particularly enjoying it and of course the guy doesn’t seem to notice. It later turns out she pretty much just slept with him because she didn’t want to be the last virgin at her high school. Of course all three girls can’t be honest with each other and insist that they all enjoy sex and have orgasms all the time. Stream is the only one courageous enough to admit she hasn’t had an orgasm but finally manages to achieve one in a hot tub thanks to a very powerful water jet. After dumping her self-absorbed boyfriend and her friends getting dumped at the same time, the trio hits clubs in a quest to find a guy capable of giving them an orgasm. If you blink for a second, you might miss that Jenny Simon’s boyfriend is a barely recognizable Ashton Kutcher. Also be warned, if you are a fan of Field of Dreams or Uncle Buck, it is very disturbing to see Gaby Hoffman in a sex scene.

After much self-exploration, Stream hooks up with the man of her dreams Henry Lipschitz, played by an always adorable Ryan Reynolds. Nell Kellner realizes that she is a lesbian. Unfortunately there is no happy ending for Jenny (Gaby Hoffman). For some odd reason the movie never gives Jenny Simon a conclusive ending. Yeah she gets to go to the college of her choice but I don’t know why the writer forgot to get her a boyfriend or at least a little more info on her future. The movie starts to explore her personality by revealing her insecurities with her weight and appearance but then the story forgets about her. That part was disappointing but overall the movie had a good plot.

Even with all the sexual references and the disturbing idea that teenagers have sex just because everyone else has sex, the movie does try to deliver the message that sex is best with someone you love. Good to know. Seriously though, the movie is pretty good and I give it 3 out of 5 stars.