''Zerophilia'' is a 2005

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film with speculative-fiction elements directed by Academy of Motion Pictures' Student Academy Award-winning director Martin Curland and produced by Microangelo Entertainment. It is about a young man who discovers that he has a genetic condition which will cause a change of sex following each orgasm. It was filmed in Fall Creek, Oregon.

Plot

"Zerophilia" is a fictional condition that affects an unknown number of people with an extra "Z" chromosome. Following their first full sexual experience, zerophiliacs begin to change sex after experiencing an orgasm. Luke (

Taylor Handley Taylor Laurence Handley (born June 1, 1984) is an American actor. Early years Handley was born in Santa Barbara, California. He attended Santa Monica City College. Career In 1998, Handley played Rory Buck in the movie '' Jack Frost''. In 2 ...

), a young man somewhat insecure about his masculinity, begins to exhibit zerophilia following an encounter with a woman (

Kelly LeBrock Kelly LeBrock (born ) is an American actress and model. Her acting debut was in '' The Woman in Red'' (1984), alongside Gene Wilder. She also starred in the John Hughes film '' Weird Science'' (1985), and in '' Hard to Kill'' (1990), opposite St ...

). He meets Michelle (Rebecca Mozo) and experiences partial transformations when they go out together. He confides with his best friend Keenan (Dustin Seavey) about his partial transformations, who in turn contacts Dr. Sydney Catchadourian (

Gina Bellman Gina Bellman (born 1966) is a New Zealand-born British actress best known for her performances as grifter Sophie Devereaux on the 2008-12 TNT television series '' Leverage'' and in the revival '' Leverage: Redemption'' when the series moved to ...

). Dr. Catchadourian persuades Luke to go through a full transformation. Luke does this by masturbating, becoming female, and subsequently calling herself "Luca". Luca has difficulty achieving an orgasm to change back, even with coaching from Keenan's girlfriend Janine ( Alison Folland). However, a visit by Michelle's attractive brother, Max (

Kyle Schmid Kyle Schmid (born August 3, 1984) is a Canadian actor, best known for his roles as Alex Caulder in History's '' Six'', Henry Durham in Syfy's '' Being Human'', Robert Morehouse in BBC America's ''Copper'' and Aaron Abbot in '' The Covenant'' (2006 ...

), who flirts with "Luke's cousin", enables her to get sufficiently aroused to complete the transformation back to Luke. Luke is threatened by his sex transformation, his arousal by an attractive male, and the questions of sexual identity it raises; he seeks help from Sydney. She tells him that a zerophiliac can become "a-morphic" and stop changing sex only by having sex with another zerophiliac... such as herself. He reluctantly agrees to do it, but discovers afterward that she was not telling him the full truth: an a-morphic zerophiliac can still change by having sex with another zerophiliac, and Dr. Catchadourian was using Luke to change herself one last time (into a man), leaving Luca as a woman in the process. Comic tensions arise from Luke's efforts to keep Michelle at a distance, Max's defensiveness about his sister, Luca's half-hearted resistance to Max's affections, and Luke's confused aggression toward Max. When Michelle discovers that Luke had sex with Dr. Catchadourian, she feels betrayed. Hoping to find Michelle, Luca seeks out Max to profess deep affection for Michelle and remorse for betraying her. Max is touched by the apology, and reveals that he is actually Michelle, also a zerophiliac. They make love repeatedly, changing sex mostly in sync with each other, but occasionally finding themselves the same sex. It ends with the happy couple apparently resolved to their 'condition' and past any questions of their gender and sexual identity.

Cast

as Luke * Dustin Seavey as Keenan * Alison Folland as Janine *

as Max * Rebecca Mozo as Michelle * Adam Zolotin as Chad *

as Dr. Sydney Catchadourian (female) * Chris Meyer as Jeremy * Marieh Delfino as Luca *

Kelly Le Brock Kelly LeBrock (born ) is an American actress and model. Her acting debut was in '' The Woman in Red'' (1984), alongside Gene Wilder. She also starred in the John Hughes film '' Weird Science'' (1985), and in '' Hard to Kill'' (1990), opposite St ...

as Woman in RV * Rick Stear as Dr. Sydney Catchadourian (male)

Release

The film was released on October 13, 2006, in theaters in North America, and performed poorly at the box office. It was released internationally on cable and DVD in February 2007.

Reception

The film received negative reviews from critics. It has a 25% approval rating on the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, based on 20 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "''Zerophilia'' has some intriguing ideas, but they're imparted with a frustrating lack of wit, daring, or valuable insight."

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title, 0421090
REVIEW - New York Times
(October 13, 2006, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'')
REVIEW - Variety
(November 6, 2006, ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'')
REVIEW - Slant Magazine
(2006, Slant Magazine) 2005 films 2005 romantic comedy films Bisexuality-related films 2000s English-language films American independent films Films about intersex 2000s science fiction comedy films Films shot in Oregon Fictional diseases and disorders Transgender-related films American LGBT-related films 2005 LGBT-related films LGBT-related romantic comedy films LGBT-related science fiction comedy films 2000s American films