I Want Your Sex, 2026.
Written and Directed by Gregg Araki.
Starring Olivia Wilde, Cooper Hoffman, Mason Gooding, Chase Sui Wonders, Daveed Diggs, Charli xcx, Johnny Knoxville, Margaret Cho, Roxane Mesquida, George Todd McLachlan, and James Duval.
SYNOPSIS:
Elliot lands a job for Erika Tracy as her sexual muse.
Curator of a sexuality-based art gallery, Olivia Wilde’s Erika Tracy started grooming 12-years-younger Cooper Hoffman’s Elliot into the deep end of the kink lifestyle on the first day of the job. Structured as a series of flashback scenes interrupted with a present-day police interrogation (conducted by Johnny Knoxville of all actors) attempting to get at a mystery at hand, returning writer/director Gregg Araki’s depravedly entertaining I Want Your Sex almost feels as if it was put together that way by design to allow for moments where Elliot can alleviate the inevitable pearl-clutching of modern audiences, mainstream moviegoers (should they hopefully find this movie somehow), and the sex-averse Generation Z by repeatedly mentioning that, yes, much of this is deplorable behavior from someone in a position of power, among other things, but that he was also living out some of his secret fantasies and therefore consenting to essentially immediately becoming a full-on submissive for this sociopathic, narcissistic, sex-addicted dominatrix.
The keyword there is ” almost” as this particular filmmaker likely doesn’t care, and if anything, wants to push those buttons of a society that can’t help themselves from interjecting and dictating who should be allowed to fuck who and when, something that is none of their business. Elliot is also a sex addict, either not getting laid by his bookworm, obsessively academic-focused girlfriend Minerva (Charli xcx In yet another role that goes against her entire public/musician persona), or too sex-starved and too inexperienced and naive to take issue that she is faking an orgasm on the rare occasion they are sexually active (which, here, is more or less her giving in for a night).
In the words of another character, Erika is referred to as “the pretentious whore from hell”, a line that one simply nods their head along to (no shaming, to be clear). To call these the boldest performances of Olivia Wilde and Cooper Hoffman’s careers would be an understatement, given just how bold, provocative, and daring they are. Night 1 of the Chicago Critics Film Festival 2026 edition saw Olivia Wilde’s single-setting dysfunctional-marriage/sex comedy The Invite programmed to kick off the festivities, in which she also stars, portraying a more repressed, starved side that isn’t too far from the role Cooper Hoffman is playing here.
More to the point, watching these two films would give severe whiplash regarding Olivia Wilde’s range as a performer, going from unhappy and unsatisfied, to the other end of the pendulum, a kinky, demanding sex goddess often interrupting her own work for pleasure, determined to get what she wants sexually even if it means encouraging and pushing Elliot to try something new like being pegged or bringing a girl friend along for a threesome. As for Cooper Hoffman, there is no shaking the sense that his father, Philip Seymour Hoffman, would be proud of him with each consecutive role he takes on, seemingly not at all concerned with achieving starpower but slowly rising to greatness.
Again, much of this is played for laughs, often unabashedly crass, and certainly aware that Erika is manipulative, whereas Elliot might also be certifiably insane for crawling back to her (literally and figuratively). Whenever something goes too far, the dynamic they share further begins to destroy his life. Simultaneously, it is also less about the characters and more about a commentary on sex itself, at one point bringing in a European character with differing values on intimacy, only for Erika to insult it when she is gone.
That’s also not to say I Want Your Sex has anything profound or deep to say; the occasional cartoonish touches and several fakeout endings make clear that, although there probably are insights to glean from the sexual psychology on display here, this is first and foremost meant to be fun. Even when it begins to wear one down, the sheer lengths Gregg Araki and his leads go to get a rise out of an audience (possibly in more ways than one) ensure the perverted, kinky energy never goes flaccid. It’s uproarious and effective at challenging the uptight to stop being so sex-shy about sex in modern times.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder
