I Am a Sex Addict

I Am a Sex Addict
Rated: NOT RATED
Cast: Rebecca Lord, Emily Morse, Amanda Henderson , Caveh Zahedi
Director: Caveh Zahedi
Screenwriter: Caveh Zahedi
WorkNameSort: I Am a Sex Addict
Our Rating: 2.00
Filmmaker Caveh Zahedi went the self-exposure route to far better effect in 1994’s humorous father-son story I Don’t Hate Las Vegas Anymore; here, he wallows in wretchedness, dramatizing the many relationships he says were undone by his growing addiction to prostitutes. Hard to muster much sympathy there, though the movie at first follows a playful, Tristram Shandy-esque trajectory that parodies Zahedi’s low-budget attempts to bring his sordid tale to the screen. But all the self-deprecation in the world can’t mask the story’s inherent ugliness, which worsens in proportion to Zahedi’s ‘condition.â?� When he starts to indulge his rape fantasies, the movie becomes impossible to take as even funny-pathetic. At 98 minutes, Addict demands an investment not repaid by its basic unpleasantness, and certainly not by its strenuously overworked scenes of the filmmaker receiving blow jobs both paid-for and gratis. Who does he think he is, Vincent Gallo? (NR; opens Friday, May 26, at DMAC, 407-992-1200)

This article appears in May 24-30, 2006.