Sell/Buy/Date

Released Oct 14, 2022

1 hr. 37 min.

Documentary

Comedy

Drama

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71%

14 Reviews

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80%

Fewer than 50 Ratings

Audience Score

Executive Produced by Meryl Streep, Sell/Buy/Date is a hybrid doc/narrative following Tony winning performer and comedian Sarah Jones. As a mixed-race Black woman in America, Sarah, alongside the multicultural characters she's known for, explores her own personal relationship to one of the most misunderstood issues in our current culture: the sex industry, and the surprisingly diverse range of people whose lives it touches. Through interviews and even celebrity cameos, this film poses the question: how can we as a society have a healthy relationship to sex, power, race and our economy, without exploitation or stigma? The goal is to highlight the human faces and voices at the center of this subject.

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dave d

I'm not sure making a hybrid mockumentary and documentary on sex work is a great idea. The doc side was informative and important, but when Sarah Jones tries to be funny it is a giant swing and a miss. The unfortunate part is this is a necessary film, however it is filled with distraction and self-indulgence. Jones makes a film about herself and not the workers she is claiming to represent. For that reason alone, this film is ultimately a failure. Final Score: 5/10

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

05/30/23

Full Review

Shock Therapy R

There has always been huge leverage upon the supply side of sex, by the demand side of sex: cult practices around the goddess Asherah (fertility) were religiously developed, with or without (debated) prostitution rituals, in earliest Akkadian and Sumerian civilizations. Further, polygamy was normative for all of the Hebrew writings period. Are women hurt by these practices, or liberated? Morphed into 2020's vernacular and thinking, this documentary purports to answer this question. This movie is initially vetted through a phenomenon called cultural appropriation. This used to be called taboo, which is it's own industry. Yet from civilization zero, cultural ideas have been "stolen" and incorporated into other cultures like the ripple of water streaming from the top of a mountain. This false introduction was off-putting in its earnest patronization of anticipated false furor. Beyond this veneer, the arguments pro-/con- were interesting and instructive. On the pro- side we hear moral equivocation to video games and movies, justifications based on one's capitalistic rights (as if that system is moral), and rationalization of higher profit sharing for the affected bodies in the trade. On the con- side we hear economic necessity (which is compelling), coercion and deception, peer pressure, and other such evils. The moderator's position seems to come down on the con- side. If the telling of this process is authentic, it is a noble effort. The material interviews of the affected bodies seems genuine. The non-material interviews with celebrity power seemed completely the opposite. This is very conflicting throughout this otherwise serious topic and dialogue. If the entertainment aesthetic and the political noise had been eradicated, this would have been an unadulterated display of intellectual inquiry and social commentary. As it was grossly encumbered, it is still a recommend, but with strong caution against a prostituted message.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/17/23

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Allison C

Sarah Jones is brilliant and delivers a groundbreaking film that made me laugh, cry and question. See this movie and discuss it with your friends and family. Sarah is such a gifted writer, actor and director. The world needs to see her work!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/16/22

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Toni R

I don't know how Sarah Jones was able to create something so profound, moving, necessary, thoughtful, and thorough while making it enjoyable and funny at the same time. She's truly a genius. I encourage everyone to see it. Her unorthoc is expertly done.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/12/22

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Timothy G

A highly entertaining, provocative, wholly original and touchingly personal exploration of the politics of sex work.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

10/20/22

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Sarah Jones

Director

Sarah Jones

Sarah

Bryan Cranston

Actor

Rosario Dawson

Actor

Ilana Glazer

Actor

Amy Bond

Actor

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Sell/Buy/Date: Trailer 1

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Jude Dry

indieWire

Sell/Buy/Date plays like a Vice special crossed with an Off-Broadway show. It would be dangerous if it weren’t so ineffective.

Rated: C-

Oct 17, 2022

Full Review

Katie Walsh

TheWrap

In a world where discourse is flattened into hyperbolic hot takes, it’s a rare and, frankly, beautiful thing to watch the process of someone seeking answers, asking questions and listening to lived experience before coming to her own conclusions.

Oct 13, 2022

Full Review

Lisa Kennedy

New York Times

If you’re hoping to land squarely on an “aye” or a “nay” about the sex-work industry, Sarah Jones’s documentary-narrative feature, “Sell/Buy/Date,” won’t help. And that’s a good thing.

Oct 13, 2022

Full Review

Avi Offer

NYC Movie Guru

An unfocused, meandering and cringe-inducing amalgam of mockumentary and documentary.

Oct 19, 2022

Full Review

Monique Jones

Common Sense Media

Sell/Buy/Date tries to do something different with the documentary format, and, for the most part, it works. The film is at its strongest when it allows those who are the most impacted by Jones' one-woman show to speak.

Rated: 4/5

Oct 19, 2022

Full Review

Roger Moore

Movie Nation

The documentary material is informative and mind-opening. The mockumentary surrounding it is a bit of a drag, and lets the movie down.

Rated: 2/4

Oct 11, 2022

Full Review

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Synopsis

Executive Produced by Meryl Streep, Sell/Buy/Date is a hybrid doc/narrative following Tony winning performer and comedian Sarah Jones. As a mixed-race Black woman in America, Sarah, alongside the multicultural characters she's known for, explores her own personal relationship to one of the most misunderstood issues in our current culture: the sex industry, and the surprisingly diverse range of people whose lives it touches. Through interviews and even celebrity cameos, this film poses the question: how can we as a society have a healthy relationship to sex, power, race and our economy, without exploitation or stigma? The goal is to highlight the human faces and voices at the center of this subject.

Director: Sarah Jones
Executive Producer: Meryl Streep, Regina K. Scully, Pamela Shifman, Abby Pucker, Gigi Pritzker, Nion McEvoy, Leslie Berriman, Robina Riccitiello, Meadow Fund, S. Mona Sinha
Screenwriter: Sarah Jones, David Goldblum
Distributor: Cinedigm
Production Co: Conscious Contact Entertainment, Secret Sauce Media , Foment Productions
Genre: Documentary, Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 14, 2022, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 8, 2022

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