If vibrator comedies become a popular new subgenre in the vein of “frat comedies” and “spoof comedies,” perhaps we’ll have to revert back to the classic comedy titles we have in our DVD collection while the trend passes.
Well, that is only if they are as tame as “Hysteria” is, which our staffer at TIFF didn’t seem to find particularly shocking or interesting for that matter saying that for all its “sexual posturing and potential to be truly saucy and unconventional…[its] inoffensively pleasant.” Now Deadline is reporting that Sony Pictures Classics, the current home of far better flicks like David Cronenberg‘s “A Dangerous Method” and Jeff Nichols‘ “Take Shelter” has acquired the romantic comedy for release. Apparently, the film created a buzz at TIFF (tasteless pun certainly not intended), when it debuted on September 15th at the festival leading distributors like Samuel Goldwyn Films and Millennium to pursue it after its premiere.
Starring Hugh Dancy and Maggie Gyllenhaal, and directed by Tanya Wexler, the film follows the supposedly hilarious invention of the first electro-mechanical vibrator. And no, it’s not as outrageous or even sexy as that premise promises. Though Sony Pictures Classics‘ Michael Barker and Tom Bernard are lining up an impressive awards season roster with “A Dangerous Method,” “Take Shelter,” “The Skin I Live In,” and the Roman Polanski-helmed “Carnage,” those films about psychoanalysis, impending apocalypse, weirdo experiments and upper class parents with first world problems, aren’t exactly going to bowl over the box office. So you’ll likely see “Hysteria” as an entry on the 2012 roster that’ll be a more populist way to pad out ledgers.
