"Coming Soon" is a film about a clique of girls who essentially have been sold a lie. That is, the only way to be happy is to get into an Ivy League school, get your wealthy parents to give you anything you want, and be a sexual beast with your trophy boyfriend. What the girls eventually realize is that these goals are completely hollow. The Ivy League does not guarantee your a golden future, money doesn't buy you happiness, and sex without pleasure is cheap and meaningless. Therefore the girls go on a quest to discover the pleasure of life, and learn that breaking the mold is the only way to find fulfillment.

In its execution, the movie relies on "clever" but stilted dialogue, over-simplified world views, giant leaps of imagination, and a very childish way of getting a point across, i.e. ignoring logic.

I am quick to applaud the goals of this film. Women deserve to be just as satisfied as men, sexually and every other way. But the way the movie gets to this goal misses the mark by a long mile. For any serious movie connoisseur who likes movies like Shortbus, Fat Girl, well basically anything covered in IFC's "Indie Sex" documentary, it's worth a viewing. But I, like the main character after her first sexual encounter, was left unsatisfied.

Apparently, the subject of female orgasm is not as "funny" as some guy having sex with an apple pie -- judging by how quickly this movie disappeared (or didn't appear at all) in movie theaters. Three well-to-do high school girls are searching for satisfaction (which *guys* do all the time in Hollywood movies) and not finding it. Ohmigodwecanttalkaboutthat!! Funny and cute movie. Bonnie Root is an attractive and likeable young actress; I'd hope to see more of her in the future.

One of the best things about the movie is that it deals with sex, more or less constantly, without ever resorting to obscenity or nudity or crudity. I know that the lack of nudity will be a disappointment to some, but it would have ruined this film.

Coming Soon is a sweet, though not perfect, coming of age story about teenage girls. Despite the difficulties that the director has had getting distribution, there isn't much shocking about the content of the film - only about the concept of young women who actually care about sexual satisfaction. And the ultimate message - that having sex in the context of a loving relationship is key to satisfaction - is even less of a surprise.

The original VHS version of Coming Soon - the one you're likely to find for rent in video stores - is the R-rated cut of the film. The DVD is the unrated version - the version that was shown at film festivals, and which the MPAA gave an NC-17 rating - and also includes director's commentary that reveals where the cuts were made.

I think that young women, and men, will enjoy this film, and get useful messages from it as well.