I Am a Sex Addict

I Am a Sex Addict
Directed by: Caveh Zahedi
(IFC Films)
The main character of writer/director Caveh Zahedi’s I Am a Sex Addict is exquisitely annoying—for most of the movie, the titular coitus enthusiast is self-absorbed and whiny; he uses his honesty as a weapon, assuming forthrightness about his actions frees him from responsibility for their results. His orgasms are loud and copious, and a little scary. It’s a pretty brave choice on Zahedi’s part; the comedy is autobiographical, and the sex addict is played by Zahedi himself. I Am a Sex Addict explores Zahedi’s experience with his own “prostitute fetish.” He’s assembled a cast to act out the broken relationships and back-alley blowjobs that have made up the movie of his life, and he certainly hasn’t glamourized the journey. The acting’s not great and the film gets heavy-handed towards the end— Zahedi hooks up with an alcoholic girlfriend, and rather than trusting his audience to pick up on the addiction parallel, the director states the connection explicitly. Zahedi is also self-indulgent; he breaks the fourth wall with abandon, often to share personal information about his actors that has nothing to do with the movie. Despite these problems, the film’s enjoyable. Any movie in which a character ends an argument by yelling “I’m going to go have sex with a prostitute!” is worth picking up.
—Lindsay McCarney