MY AWKWARD SEXUAL ADVENTURE: MARCH 1, 9:30 PM

Friday, March 1: 9:30 pm        MY AWKWARD SEXUAL ADVENTURE 
DIR: Sean Garrity. 98 mins.
Cast: Vik Sahay, Sarah Manninen, Emily Hampshire, Jonas Chernick

A hyper-repressed and schlubby accountant (Jonas Chernick) strikes a deal with a worldly but disorganized stripper (Emily Hampshire): he'll help her with her crushing debt if she helps him become a better lover. Sharp direction by the versatile Sean Garrity and a very funny script by Chernick ensure for an uproarious — and surprisingly educational — sex comedy.

After an almost perfunctory montage of Winnipeg night scenes, Sean Garrity’s My Awkward Sexual Adventure cuts to the chase: Accountant Jordan Abrams is having sex with his longtime girlfriend, Rachel. It’s not going well... Rachel — the woman Jordan plans to propose to on the weekend during a romantic getaway to Niagara Falls — has in fact dozed off. When she finally wakes up, she tells Jordan she’s had enough of his bedroom inadequacies and promptly dumps him. Decimated, he heads off to Toronto to stay with his best friend Dandak, a notorious player who throws Jordan an impromptu party packed with available women.

Unfortunately, our heartbroken hero can’t talk about anything else but Rachel. Kicked out of his own party, Jordan stumbles into a strip joint. There he continues to bemoan his fate until, after far too many drinks, he’s tossed into the alleyway where he’s rescued by one of the dancers, Julia. The next morning in Julie’s apartment, which is littered with unpaid bills, she and a somehow pantless Jordan strike a bargain. She’ll teach him how to be a better lover; he’ll help her deal with her crushing debt.

Raucous, sexy, and frenetic, My Awkward Sexual Adventure charts two different quests: Jordan’s drive to become less of a hyper-repressed schlub and win back Rachel, and Julia’s struggle to gain control of her life. They aren’t mutually exclusive journeys, and neither plays out exactly how the characters envision. Ultimately, they are left with opposing choices: Jordan must give up his fantasy while Julia has to embrace hers. It’s hardly certain that either will have the courage necessary to do so. My Awkward Sexual Adventure is sharply directed by the versatile Garrity, with a very funny script by Chernick, who leads the exceptional cast while racing from one catastrophe to the next as if his hair’s about to catch fire. And, perhaps unusually for a sex comedy, it’s surprisingly educational.