It’s strange to think that Don Roos, who executive produced the deplorable All Over The Guy was the writer and director of this sparkling film, which has everything its timid and politically correct millennial gay comedy cousins lack.

Gutsy pregnant teen Dedee Truitt (Christina Ricci) moves in with her half-brother Bill (Martin Donovan), who doesn’t know she’s coming, and who could have done without the trouble. Bill is a teacher in a quiet small town, getting over the death of his wealthy lover with the help of a devoted, young and gorgeous new boyfriend Matt (Ivan Sergei).

Lucia (Lisa Kudrow) is the agitated sister of Bill’s dead lover, and she’s wary of Dedee from the moment she lays eyes on her. Lucia’s suspicions prove correct as Dedee seduces Matt while Bill is at work, steals $10,000 from Bill and escapes with Matt to Los Angeles. When Matt’s secret second boyfriend, the jealous Jason (Johnny Galecki) arrives on the scene and falsely accuses Bill of sexual abuse, Bill and Lucia head to LA to escape local gossip and to track down Dedee and Matt. Local Sheriff and Lucia’s secret admirer Carl (Lyle Lovett) follows them all.

Amid this whacked-out story are some excellent performances and a really refreshing grab of mid-1990s urban US socio-sexual mores. Brassy Dedee couldn’t care less that her half-brother’s a fag, and fag is what she calls him for most of the film. The ashes she carries around are a brilliant and efficient motif. Johnny Galecki, the cutie from Roseanne, surprises as the venal Jason. He captures that hideous post-AIDS gay-brat persona without going overboard. The film occasionally tilts ominously towards garden-variety gay pride with Donovan echoing his gay-martyr role in the saccharine Hollow Reed, but these lapses are brief.

The Opposite of Sex is a bit like a cross between Drugstore Cowboy and and Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion and it holds its own with superlative films like Election and Clueless. The film’s strong script and effervescent confidence shake it loose of the cloying, film-student hairballs that dog related films like, say, The Doom Generation, or Go.

And speaking of Romy and Michele, here is another amazing Lisa Kudrow performance. Aided by some great punchlines and a dowdy wardrobe, Kudrow is the most outstanding part of this excellent film.