Entertainment
Cameron Diaz And Christina Applegate's Ultra-Raunchy, R-Rated Comedy Is A Forgotten Classic
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Did you know that one of the most celebrated film genres of the ‘80s and ‘90s has quietly died? The genre in question is the R-rated comedy, one typified by vintage classics such as Porky’s and American Pie. These movies won over audiences through a simple combination of raunchy jokes and scantily clad stars.
These days, the R-rated comedy has been retired in favor of streamer-friendly slop, and it’s nearly impossible to find films featuring this potent combination of dirty jokes and exposed flesh. But over two decades ago, we got a criminally underappreciated sex comedy with a twist: instead of focusing on men, it focuses on women proving just how much they love to get nasty when the boys aren’t around. That film is The Sweetest Thing (2002), and you can now stream this star-studded classic for free on Tubi!
Treat Yourself To Some Pleasure
The premise of The Sweetest Thing is that Cameron Diaz plays a woman with a reputation for loving and leaving men so that she can keep enjoying the single life. However, she runs into a man who pushes back against her take-charge attitude, getting under her skin like no man ever had before. After getting an invite to a wedding the man is attending, she embarks on a raunchy road trip with her best friends, proving once and for all that the fairer sex can be just as rude, crude, and hilariously nasty as any man.
For a relatively unknown raunch comedy, The Sweetest Thing has a really star-studded cast, including Christina Applegate (best known for Married…With Children) as a divorce lawyer and BFF who really holds her gal pals together. Selma Blair (best known for Cruel Intentions) plays one of those pals, someone who might just rebound with a confident hunk played by Thomas Jane (best known for Boogie Nights). He has a chauvinistic brother played by Jason Bateman (best known for Arrested Development); however, the performer who anchors the entire thing is Cameron Diaz (best known for Charlie’s Angels), who delivers a dirty-talking, fearlessly raunchy performance that may forever change how you see this cinematic girl-next-door.
Hated By The Critics
The Sweetest Thing proved to be a modest box office success, earning $68.7 million against a $43 million budget. Sadly, the film didn’t prove to be the same kind of pop culture phenomenon that earlier gross-out movies like There’s Something About Mary were. However, this movie did cement Cameron Diaz (who notably played Mary in the earlier film) as an actress who is never afraid to get down and dirty in order to make the audience laugh.
When The Sweetest Thing came out, critics really hated it: the movie has a 25 percent critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with reviewers complaining about the thin plot and the bevy of hit-or-miss gags. However, it’s worth noting that the movie has a 64 percent critical score. This helps prove that this raunchy film is quite the crowd-pleaser, with audiences deeming it “fresh” even as critics declared it downright rotten.
More Than A Few Surprises
So, the critics hated it, and it wasn’t exactly a box office darling. Why, then, should you watch The Sweetest Thing? The short answer is that it is funny in the most transgressive way, and if you have a dirty mind (it’s not just me, right?), you’ll find plenty to love in this raucously funny raunchiest.
Then and now, part of what makes The Sweetest Thing so entertaining is that it is an unflinchingly gender swapped version of the “boys behaving badly” genre of film. Even if you’ve seen male-led movies like The Hangover a million times, there is something refreshing about seeing women take part in the same kinds of gross-out gags and filthy conversations usually reserved for men. It helps that the central actors embrace the sex jokes with such gusto, and Cameron Diaz’s hypnotic performance is practically an ecstasy of exhibitionism.
Guys are sure to enjoy the film; after all, it’s filled with hot ladies, dirty talk, and nudity, all of which can reliably rev a fellow’s motor. But The Sweetest Thing is designed by and for women, and much of its humor works by making men the butt of some fairly hilarious jokes.
Time To Get Down And Dirty
The scene is funny in and of itself, but the punchline doesn’t come from girls behaving badly; rather, it comes from the fact that guys are so easy to manipulate when it comes to anything and everything naughty. This is just one small example of the film’s surprising emphasis on sex positivity and its emphasis on female agency. It’s the rare raunchy comedy framed from the perspective of the female gaze, but most men will be too busy laughing to realize that male horniness is the butt of each and every surprisingly funny joke.
Will you agree that The Sweetest Thing deserves more love when you watch it on Netflix, or will these gals gross you out before the end of the first scene? The only way to find out is to stream the film and rediscover this overlooked classic for yourself. If nothing else, you’ll never look at Cameron Diaz the same way after these credits roll!
