Review of Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex *But Were Afraid to Ask (1972) by Jess P — 23 Apr 2012

Woody Allen was on a roll after Bananas (1971), and United Artists offered him the chance to adapt a sex manual by Dr. David Reuben. To some, it might have been an impossible request, but Woody saw potential comedy gold in the book, and the result is one of his most absurdly silly films of his career but also one of his funniest as well.

It's broken into 7 segments, beginning with a Fool (Woody) seducing a Queen (Lynn Redgrave) with an aphrodisiac, then a segment on sodomy where Dr. Ross (Gene Wilder) falls for a sheep, then an Italian bit where Fabrizio (Woody) gets his wife Gina (Louise Lasser) aroused by having sex in public places.

Then there's Sam Musgrave (Lou Jacobi) who is a middle-aged transvestite. There follows a spoof of What's My Line entitled What's My Perversion? where a panel guesses the sexual fantasies and fetishes of certain people.

Then a B-Movie horror spoof where Victor (Woody) and Helen (Heather MacRae) see the results of weird sexual experiments by Dr. Bernardo (John Carradine), and finally a segment on ejaculation, where controllers in the brain (Tony Randall and Burt Reynolds) control a session of sexual intercourse, with Woody as a sperm.

Some of the segments don't entirely work, and some outstay their welcome more than other's. But, on the whole, it is a very funny and dirty minded sketch revue, it shows the range of Woody's imagination, and how he was game for just about anything, but it is original.