Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

That feeling when you are watching movie and thinking: "Why the hell I waste my time on this nonsense, I should really turn this crap off and... OK, now I'm giving it up..." and then you find yourself staring in ending credits and wandering what was that thing you just wasted two hours of your life on, but somehow you're glad you did and you're even a little bit sorry it's over...That feeling when you are watching movie and thinking: "Why the hell I waste my time on this nonsense, I should really turn this crap off and... OK, now I'm giving it up..." and then you find yourself staring in ending credits and wandering what was that thing you just wasted two hours of your life on, but somehow you're glad you did and you're even a little bit sorry it's over...

An extremely underrated movie, as often is when it comes to touchy subjects like openly LGBTQ characters without someone just trying to be funny. Don't get me wrong, this movie made me laugh, a lot. While it had me laughing in some parts, it had me crying in others. This is a touching story that goes really deep and that does it with good actors too. It is late and I might write this better and longer at some other time. Just had to leave a comment for people.The movie might turn people away with it's openness that the world doesn't really seem to be ready for yet (in general). Do not turn the movie off in the beginning when it might just look like someone is treating you with sex scenes. This movie is so much more!In short: Watch Shortbus. Don't turn it off at once, but let the characters and the movie build. Also, the soundtrack is amazing.

I give it points for being different, and I am all for art porn on principle. But in general, "Shortbus" is too weepy-sensitive to be hot. And John Cameron Mitchell's sexual ideology, as presented, is frankly puerile. A male character lacks affect until he is penetrated, and then all of a sudden, he can feel! A female character (who looks to be the world's worst couples counselor) can't experience an orgasm until she is jointly seduced by a Taylor Lautner-Taylor Swift type couple (we should all be so lucky), and then, well, the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air! The movie ends on that latter scene, actually, and I didn't like it any more than I did when "Adventureland" was structured around Jesse Eisenberg's getting laid, and when he does, mission accomplished, the movie's over. Yuk. It also makes me nervous to think that Lars von Trier's new "Nymphomaniac" is apparently based on this same plot trope, the search for the missing female orgasm. And at four hours or more length, no less. (Word has it that the director's cut of "Nymphomaniac" is five-and-a-half hours.)Large chunks of "Shortbus" do not work at all - a long screwball scene at mid-movie involving a vibrating egg is simply embarrassing. The characters are by and large not engaging (a word I prefer to "likable" in this context - you can be engaged, held, by someone who is not likable, such as Henry Hill in "Goodfellas"). Every now and then, a little bit of the movie clicks - there is a jacuzzi seduction with one guy edging closer to another that packs more erotic charge than all the explicit scenes put together. And I like Justin Bond's line, while surveying an orgy: "It's just like the Sixties, only with less hope." (Bond as the club proprietor, Lindsay Beamish as a dominatrix, and Peter Stickles as a cute stalker are the best performers here.)The film is clearly a fantasy, because it is hard to believe that the thoroughly polysexual Shortbus club could exist in the real world. When it comes to getting down to business, gay men don't like to be around women, lesbians don't like to be around men, straight men don't like to be around gay men, and there are never enough out bisexuals to go around. That leaves straight women, who I believe are indeed more ecumenically minded, but who also tend to avoid such establishments. Straight sex clubs seldom work because of gender ratio problems: they become either gay sex clubs, or brothels. That's the real world. Mitchell's concept of an establishment where everyone just gets along and gets it on is sweetly sentimental, though not without a certain wistful appeal.Beyond all that, I have always maintained that a sex club that is not also a bath-house is an icky proposition. People need to shower!

Seeing Shortbus for the second time and reading a few reviews, it struck me that there's strong similarities with the Andy Warhol "presents" sex movies made by Paul Morrissey of the late 1960s.Filmed in the basement of his brownstone of 6th Street, 'Trash' became a cult, ultra-low budget underground movie, starring gay hustler Joe Dallesandro and featured absolutely natural full-frontal everything. 'Heat' and 'Flesh' followed and remained notorious fare for those 'who knew' for years.True, I have just been off at a tangent to the film in question but I think this connection is relevant and interesting; admittedly more to those old enough to know about and to have seen them. It does strike me that real people, from every sexual persuasion appear totally with their defences down - and a lot more - in Shortbus and in the drug-fuelled days of 1969, Underground New York similarly was a hotbed of "everything goes" sex.That's probably where the similarities do end, though - those 16mm fuzzy, grotesquely dingy home movies simply didn't live up to their hype and personally I don't rate them above novelty/historical status. Shortbus' flesh scenes though are clinically sharp, brightly lit and it's a 'proper' film, scripted, rehearsed (to a point....how many takes does a real sex act need?!) drama that peels away the facade of shallow and instantly gratification to provide a multi-layered emotional drama, that can be of surprising depth.I personally don't like the character of the Chinese-Canadian 'couples counsellor' (sex therapist, in real words) and her often aggressive stance puts a barrier between us and the other, more interesting and more complex characters. The gay couple who are the centre of the movie provide many interesting and challenging interactions and questions and are, actually very believable, whereas the Club is a carnal diversion that certainly adds spice and zest. The just post 9/11 time period casts an air of loss and uncertainty, making these often insecure souls even more so.Once you get over the misconceived idea that Shortbus is nothing more than a hardcore porn movie and is actually an extremely frank multi- relationship drama that happens to feature a lot of sex, then you're there, enjoying it and appreciating it. There maybe should a warning sticker on the DVD that says "Not all scenes contain sexual acts", because often, there's not.All-in-all a worthwhile, well made drama that will never be (thank goodness) for everyone but for those who do, it does pay dividends.