Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask)

R

Released Aug 6, 1972

1h 27m

Comedy

List

88%

26 Reviews

Tomatometer

69%

10,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Inspired by the book written by Dr. David Reuben, director Woody Allen tackles seven questions about sex by connecting seven not-so-connected stories. From aphrodisiacs to sexual perversion to the mystery of the male orgasm, characters like a court jester (Woody Allen), a doctor (Gene Wilder), a queen (Lynn Redgrave) and a journalist (Heather MacRae) adventure through lab experiments and game shows, all seeking answers to common questions that many would never ask.

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Penelope Gilliatt

New Yorker

Cockeyed and sometimes insanely funny.

Jan 22, 2024

Full Review

Stephen Silver

Tilt Magazine

Quite uneven, with some of the segments considerably funnier than others. But the film is valuable as the sort of movie — an anthology, based on a popular nonfiction book — that’s all but disappeared (50th anniversary)

Rated: 3/5

Aug 26, 2022

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

The film remains one of Woody's most shocking, vulgar and sophomoric efforts, yet there's no denying its potent comic quota.

Rated: 3.5/4

Nov 1, 2021

Full Review

Mike Massie

Gone With The Twins

While each piece alternates between awkward, irreverent, uncomfortable, hilarious, and momentarily brilliant, there isn't much to tie them together.

Rated: 7/10

Aug 29, 2020

Full Review

Dick Lochte

Los Angeles Free Press

With one exception, the skits are delightful.

Jan 6, 2020

Full Review

Jesús Fernández Santos

El Pais (Spain)

Woody Allen runs the risk of becoming, with time, the main protagonist of the same structures he attacks so assiduously. [Full Review in Spanish]

Jul 25, 2019

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Marc Z

This movie is unique and ahead of its time in so many ways. For 1972 this candid and funny look at various aspects of sexuality is fun to watch. It is an anthology of different tales covering topics such as, "Do Aphrodisiacs Work", and "Why Do Woman Have Orgasms". The various skits feature a stellar cast in skits taking place at various locations, in a variety of time periods. The candid talk about sexuality is progressive and fun; however, there are elements that would probably not hold up in today's environment. The sketch about whether Transvestites are Homosexuals is funny, but would never be able to be made today-perhaps that is what I like about it. The sketch with the late John Carradine as a mad sexual scientist was my favorite. There are notable gags, lines, and visuals that made this a classic. While Allen progressed into more romantic comedies, these films helped boost his notoriety worldwide.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/05/23

Full Review

Stewart C

This is the type of film you can't make anymore. Perhaps that is the reason why I found it moderately enjoyable. There are jokes about transvestism, gang-bangs, paedophilia, and beastiality. Yet, these things are handled in such a way that the film doesn't become objectionable. Spend a Sunday afternoon with this one.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

05/31/20

Full Review

Audience Member

The first Woody Allen film to become a genuine financial hit, it was the twelfth highest grossing film in the year of it's release, this movie feels like an extended episode of Saturday Night Live with it's format. Allen based the film on a popular sex manual that was the highest selling non-fiction book of all time when the film was made and he does make some interesting, if dated, comments on how men and women experience sex differently. There is also the delight of seeing a comedic performer as distinctive and offbeat as Gene Wilder work around Allen's style of comedy in one particularly absurd section of the film. The first section is perhaps the least interesting as Allen takes on the role of an unfunny court jester hated by the king who employs him. In one creepy scene he ‘cops a feel' of the breasts of the Queen, Lynn Redgrave, who appears slightly attracted to him and with the introduction of an aphrodisiac she decides to have sex with him. Her comically large chastity belt proves difficult to remove and all of the noise that the two make attracts the attention of the King who has him killed. There is fascination in seeing the prim and proper Redgrave play a sexual woman with few inhibitions and she does manage to make us believe in her total infatuation with Allen despite his outwardly unattractive appearance. Sadly the skit gets lost in physical comedy about forcing various objects near Redgrave's crotch that have no chance of opening her belt. The skit also offers Allen and opportunity to reflect on the difficulty of being a comedian as he is heckled for his poor work and disrespected by others but this is an idea that is never fully developed because the skit does not run on long enough to see the toll that this abuse takes on Allen. The second section of the film is easily the funniest as Wilder is put to great use as an emotionally walled off doctor who falls hopelessly in love with a sheep. The concept alone is enough to elicit a "What?" response from anybody but unlike some lesser skits from Allen the comic potential of this idea is actually tapped into. We see Wilder's slow conversion from confusion at the attraction that the Armenian owner of the sheep has for it to being charmed and eventually lustful himself. His slow descent resembles that of most men having an affair with a woman but the punch line of him being discovered with the sheep in a red robe with some strange BDSM contraption strapped to the sheep is terribly funny. Most of the skits after this point are just sort of ‘meh' as they feel the most like a television show with too few jokes and a lot of nothing. The ideas for most of these sketches are funny on paper but in execution there is just not enough that if funny about a Michelangelo Antonioni parody to stretch it out over 15 minutes. Sure, a giant rolling breast with milk squirting out of is an entertaining visual but this does not make up for the dullness of Allen's earlier romance with a medical tester. When Allen latches on to the idea of a cross dresser escaping from a dinner party to dress up in women's clothing and having to hide from his friends by running out into the street he does little with the concept. Today's audiences might be more resistant to his treatment of sexuality and gender politics but his jokes are not only politically incorrect but not very funny. Smartly he drops in a light, well observed final skit to round out the film and it is so likable that it makes you forget how unfunny the previous skits were. Maybe it was the brevity of the film that made this seem acceptable but when a black sperm accidentally finds his way into the penis of the white man attempting to have sexual intercourse with a woman. I doubt that I will remember much of the film in the weeks to come but for now it was a breezy enough 88 minutes to be worthy of a viewing.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

Full Review

andres s

I love how Woody is the jester. I love how the different sex topics all take place in different time periods during different scenarios. I love Gene Wilder. May he rest in peace. His comedic chops I don't think will ever be bested. That transvestite bit was hilarious with guy prancing around in women's clothing. I would have never guessed. That game show bit was clever. Tit on the loose! That bit was ridiculous. It is impressive how they got something to be that big and be mobile at the same time. I think the thing I love most about Woody Allen and his movies is that he's not afraid of making his vision, however ridiculous, silly or imaginative, come to life on the screen. Like with the giant tit and the whole body process. Woody Allen's comedy is right up my alley and this one is no exception. This movie was hilarious.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The best comedy movie ever made!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/26/23

Full Review

Audience Member

If it werent for the last two brilliant sketches, this wouldnt have done it for me.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/12/23

Full Review

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Woody Allen

Director

Woody Allen

The Fool

Burt Reynolds

Sperm Switchboard Chief

Lynn Redgrave

The Queen

John Carradine

Dr. Bernardo

Lou Jacobi

Sam

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Synopsis

Inspired by the book written by Dr. David Reuben, director Woody Allen tackles seven questions about sex by connecting seven not-so-connected stories. From aphrodisiacs to sexual perversion to the mystery of the male orgasm, characters like a court jester (Woody Allen), a doctor (Gene Wilder), a queen (Lynn Redgrave) and a journalist (Heather MacRae) adventure through lab experiments and game shows, all seeking answers to common questions that many would never ask.

Director: Woody Allen
Screenwriter: David Reuben, Woody Allen
Distributor: United Artists
Production Co: United Artists, Rollins-Joffe Productions
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 6, 1972, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 16, 2008
Runtime: 1h 27m
Sound Mix: Mono
Aspect Ratio: 35mm

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