Virtual Sexuality Reviews

Poor little Justine (Laura Fraser)! She feels she's the only 17-year-old virgin in the world, but she's holding out for the perfect guy and he's proving elusive. Meanwhile, she pals around with geek-boy Chas (Luke De Lacey), her friend from grade school (he, of course, is nursing a massive crush on Justine to which she's blithely oblivious), and pines for Alex (Kieran O'Brien), the macho schmuck everyone but Justine recognizes as the last person in the world to whom one's virginity should be lost. As part of a complicated scheme to hook-up with Alex, Justine accompanies Chas to a virtual reality expo, where she plays around with a high-tech, 3-D make-over machine called Narcissus. A gas explosion rips through the joint, and as the dust settles, a blond Adonis (Rupert Penry-Jones) in Justine's clothes picks his way out of the rubble. Jake, as the paragon calls himself, has Justine's personality wrapped in a male model's body, and that quickly makes for some very confusing situations. This is the very definition of a cotton-candy picture: bright and sweet and so melt-in-your-mouth insubstantial that the day after you see it you're straining to remember what it was all about. But while you're watching, it's perfectly good fun; the cast is full of fresh-faced cuties, and because they're English, you're not already sick to death of seeing them on TV. The Notting Hill locations are a nice change from Southern California, and the dialogue is peppy and sharp-witted.