''Sex Appeal'' is a 2022 American

teen Adolescence () is a transitional stage of human Developmental biology, physical and psychological Human development (biology), development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age o ...

sex comedy Sexual comedy (also known as, sex comedy and erotic comedy) is a genre in which comedy is motivated by sexual situations and love affairs. Although "sexual comedy" is primarily a description of dramatic forms such as theatre and film, literary wor ...

film directed by Talia Osteen (in her feature-length directorial debut) and written by Tate Hanyok. The film stars Mika Abdalla,

Jake Short Jacob Patrick Short (born May 30, 1997) is an American actor. His roles have included Fletcher Quimby in the Disney Channel sitcom '' A.N.T. Farm'' (2011–2014), Oliver in the Disney XD series '' Mighty Med'' (2013–2015) and '' Lab Rats: El ...

Margaret Cho Margaret Moran Cho (born December 5, 1968) is an American stand-up comedian, actress and musician. In her Stand-up comedy, stand-up routines she critiques social and political problems, especially about race and sexuality. She starred in the Ame ...

, Paris Jackson and Fortune Feimster.

Premise

Avery Hansen-White holds herself back from doing things she's not excellent at. So when her long-distance boyfriend seems to want to take their relationship to the next level at the upcoming

STEM Stem or STEM most commonly refers to: * Plant stem, a structural axis of a vascular plant * Stem group * Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics Stem or STEM can also refer to: Language and writing * Word stem, part of a word respon ...

conference ("nerd prom"), she resolves to master her sexuality. Avery starts studying the mechanics of love and realizes that relationships involve less science and more heart.

Cast

Production

In March 2021, it was revealed that American High was developing a teen comedy film for Hulu called ''Sex Appeal'', with Mika Abdalla and

set to star. The same month, it was reported that Talia Osteen would direct the film in her directorial debut for Hulu, while Tate Hanyok would serve as the screenwriter and one of the executive producers. In April 2021,

, Paris Jackson,

Rebecca Henderson Rebecca Henderson (born June 4, 1980) is a Canadian actress. She is known for her portrayal of Lizzy on the Netflix series ''Russian Doll (TV series), Russian Doll'' and for her roles in independent films ''Appropriate Behavior'', ''They Remain ...

, and

Skai Jackson Skai Jackson (born April 8, 2002) is an American actress. With such accolades as a Shorty Award and a nomination for a NAACP Image Award, she was featured in ''Times list of the most influential teens in 2016. After early child acting rol ...

were announced to star in the film. Filming took place in and around

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. With a population of 148,620 and a Syracuse metropolitan area, metropolitan area of 662,057, it is the fifth-most populated city and 13 ...

, including at Syracuse Studios, in the village of

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, and

Onondaga Lake Park Onondaga Lake Park is an over 8-mile (12.8 km) linear greenway located on the shores of Onondaga Lake in Onondaga County, New York. The park is shared between the towns of Salina and Geddes and the city of Syracuse and is home to the Salt ...

Release

The film was released on January 14, 2022, on Hulu. Internationally, the movie became available through

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

starting on April 8, 2022. In Latin America, the film was released as a

Star+ Star+ (Star Plus; stylized as ST★R+) was a short-lived subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service available in almost all Ibero-American states. The service was owned by The Walt Disney Company through the Disney Entertai ...

original on March 18, 2022.

Reception

On the

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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 ...

, 55% of 20 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.90/10. Jennifer Green of ''

Common Sense Media Common Sense Media (CSM) is an American nonprofit organization that reviews and provides ratings for media and technology with the goal of providing information on their suitability for children.

'' gave the film a grade of three out of five stars and praised the positive message of the movie on romantic relationships, while complimenting the diversity of the cast. Aurora Amidon of '' Paste'' rated the movie 5.8 out of 10, praised how the movie approaches the loss of virginity with humor, but found the lack of knowledge of sex of Mika Abdalla's character nonsensical due to her mastery on science and the presence of her sex-positive parents. Ferdosa of ''

Screen Rant ''Screen Rant'' is an entertainment website that offers news in the fields of television, films, video games, and comic books. It is owned by Valnet, parent of publications including Comic Book Resources, Collider, MovieWeb and XDA Developers. ...

'' rated the film two out of five stars, complimented that the movie manages to deliver a positive take on sexual relationships, while praising the performance of Abdalla, but stated that the film does not develop the characters enough through their dialogues compared to other teen sex comedy movies.

References

External links

* at

Hulu Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...

* 2022 films 2022 directorial debut films 2022 romantic comedy films 2020s American films 2020s English-language films 2020s high school films 2020s sex comedy films 2020s teen comedy films 2020s teen romance films American high school films American romantic comedy films American sex comedy films American teen comedy films American teen romance films Films about proms Films shot in New York (state) Hulu original films Teen sex comedy films English-language sex comedy films English-language romantic comedy films {{2020s-US-film-stub