BETTER THAN SEX (or BTS) is an interesting film, to say the least. The storyline sort of reminds me of AMERICAN PIE, and the film is definitely done in that same raunchy style. But where AMERICAN PIE had straight-forward directing and editing, BTS tries new things with a similar concept. Does it work? Well, yes and no. Read on to find out.

The film confusingly uses a discontinuous method of editing. Different chartacters' storylines weave in and out of each other. Scenes that play in the beginning of the film show up at the end of the film from someone else's point of view. It's a nice concept, but the execution could have been a little tighter. As it stands, it's very hard to tell what's what sometimes in the film. When we lose track of the main character in order to deal with secondary characters, something's not right. The discontinuous editing almost seems like a way to make the film longer, and that shouldn't be. There are sequences where various characters are being interviewed by an offscreen presence. These segments are funny at first, but when they start to focus on characters who can only be considered extras, the humor begins to wear off.

With the negative aspects out of the way, allow me to focus on the positive. The storyline itself is quirky and fun, with the characters being individually distinctive. In terms of acting, everyone does a nice enough job, with special merit going to the main character, the girl who likes him, and the Japanese ex-gangster who produces a TV show trying to get delinquents off the streets. I wish I knew the actors' names, but as the film is from Taiwan and I'm not familiar in the least with Taiwanese actors, it looks like I won't be naming any names in this review...well, except for one. Leon Dai (DOUBLE VISION) appears as a cop. The role is funny and Leon seems to be having a ball with it.

The film is decent. Some parts are humourous, some aren't. A lot of the film is over-the-top (the ancient sword that causes orgasms to anyone who touches it is way out of left field, along with a cameo by rapper MC Hot Dog), with much of it bordering on the strange and absurd. There's plenty of raunch for those who are into that. If you're not, you probably won't want to see BETTER THAN SEX. The film actually carries a nice message of love that many films of this type lack. Unfortunately, it's drowned out by masturbation, ejaculation, and penis jokes (not necessarily in that order). Directing by Su Chao Pin (who also wrote the screenplay) and Lee Feng Bor is fairly slick, with the best moment of the film being a sequence done in snapshots. Now if the whole film had been that clever, we would have had a winner on our hands.

Overall: Like I said before, the film is very average. Most of the film and its jokes are really hit-or-miss. Acting is fairly good, but doesn't really register as anything special... The film can be enjoyed as a minor diversion, but BETTER THAN SEX is hardly must-see material.