Film Review: Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972)

The 1970s Sexual Revolution, an era defined by its audacious exploration of taboo subjects, emboldened filmmakers to push boundaries in ways both groundbreaking and ephemeral. Among these was Woody Allen, whose 1972 comedy Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask) stands as a relic of this period’s irreverent spirit. Branded with an X-rating—a provocative label that now seems incongruously prudish—the film epitomises Allen’s early, anarchic humour. However, compared to his later, introspective masterpieces like Annie Hall (1977) or Manhattan (1979), it occupies a lower tier in his filmography: a frenetic yet uneven anthology that prioritises bawdy gags over narrative cohesion, reflecting a director still refining his distinctive voice.

The film’s loose framework derives from David Reuben’s 1969 bestseller of the same name, a pseudo-medical sex manual that capitalised on the era’s liberalising mores. Reuben’s book, blending clinical jargon with cheeky titillation, became a cultural phenomenon, though Allen’s adaptation was driven as much by personal pique as artistic ambition. After Reuben shamelessly recycled a joke from Allen’s 1969 film Take the Money and Run during a Tonight Show appearance, Allen retaliated by lampooning Reuben’s earnest prose. The result is less a faithful adaptation than a mischievous parody, skewering both the book’s sanctimonious tone and society’s voyeuristic obsession with sex.

Allen structures the film as seven disjointed vignettes, each framed around a question from Reuben’s book. The segments oscillate between inspired absurdity and cringe-inducing misfires:

• “Do Aphrodisiacs Work?” A laboured Shakespearean spoof sees Allen as a jester attempting to seduce Queen Gertrude (Lynn Redgrave) with a love potion, thwarted by a chastity belt. The medieval farce relies on slapstick that clashes with Allen’s nascent wit.
• “What Is Sodomy?” Gene Wilder’s tragicomic turn as a psychiatrist smitten with a patient’s sheep teeters on surrealism, though its punchline fizzles into awkward silence.
• “Why Do Some Women Have Trouble Reaching an Orgasm?” Allen and ex-wife Louise Lasser star as Fabrizio and Gina, an Italian couple whose marital strife hinges on Gina’s inability to climax unless they copulate in public. The segment, a broad spoof of 1960s Italian arthouse cinema, is marred by cringe-inducing faux-Italian dialogue and a premise stretched too thin.
• “Are Transvestites Homosexuals?” Lou Jacobi’s middle-aged protagonist, whose cross-dressing is exposed at a family dinner, reduces its subject to sitcom-level humour, lacking the nuance the topic deserves.
• “What Are Sex Perverts?” A game show parody titled What’s My Perversion? trades on repetitive jokes about kinks, its satire rendered toothless by dated stereotypes.
• “Are the Findings of Doctors and Clinics Accurate?” John Carradine hams it up as Dr. Bernardo, a deranged scientist whose experiments spawn a giant, rampaging breast. This B-movie spoof, complete with rubbery monster effects, revels in camp but feels tonally disjointed.
• “What Happens During Ejaculation?” The film’s pièce de résistance reimagines a man’s date as a NASA-style control room operation, with Tony Randall and Burt Reynolds overseeing bodily functions. Allen himself appears as a panicked sperm, clad in white robes, in a climax of literal and metaphorical release.

Produced before Allen honed his screen persona as the neurotic New York intellectual, the film brims with chaotic energy. Eschewing the melancholic depth of his later works, it channels the zany spirit of his early stand-up. The anthology format, however, proves a double-edged sword: while allowing Allen to experiment with disparate styles, it results in a disjointed whole. Segments like the Italian spoof hinge on cultural references (e.g., Fellini-esque excess) that feel esoteric today, while the transvestite subplot relies on cheap laughs rather than insight. The film’s X-rating, once a badge of notoriety, now feels incongruous, its content tame by modern standards—a testament to shifting cultural mores.

The film’s sole transcendent moment arrives in its closing act. The ejaculation sequence, a masterclass in high-concept comedy, transforms a mundane date into a sci-fi farce. Tony Randall’s deadpan “Mission Control” director and Burt Reynolds’ eager technician dissect the protagonist’s every move with clinical detachment, while Allen’s sperm—a neurotic everyman—frets over existential futility. This segment, brimming with visual wit and sharp timing, could stand alone as a short film masterpiece. Yet, within the broader anthology, it merely elevates an otherwise middling experience to passable entertainment—far from the refined brilliance that would later define Allen’s career.

Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex remains a fascinating artefact of 1970s audacity, encapsulating the era’s blend of liberation and naivety. While its uneven execution and dated humour pale beside Allen’s later works, the film offers glimpses of his evolving genius, particularly in its audacious final segment. For cinephiles, it serves as a curious footnote in Allen’s journey from slapstick provocateur to auteur. For general audiences, it is a period piece—a reminder that even legends stumble en route to greatness. In the pantheon of Sexual Revolution cinema, it is neither essential nor forgettable, but an intriguing relic of a time when sex, both onscreen and off, was a frontier waiting to be explored.

RATING: 5/10 (++)

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