THE OLIVIA EXPERIMENT – The Review

Review by Cassondra Feltus

THE OLIVIA EXPERIMENT is an independent comedy that follows a woman in her late twenties as she explores her sexuality, or lack thereof. Believing that she may in fact be asexual, she attends a support group, stating that she is “awkward” and “can’t function in society.”

Olivia’s advisor tells her that she appears to have an aversion to self-exploration and advises her to “live a little.” Olivia decides to document her journey into the unknown. Through this experience, she hopes to finally feel like a typical human being.

The characters in this film aren’t very likable, especially Olivia. Her neuroticism is actually quite annoying and exaggerated, instead of endearing or sympathetic. James, her roommate who happens to be gay and CJ, the lesbian camerawoman for the documentary, are pretty stereotypical. And Felicia is the attractive and highly sexual best friend.

About nine minutes into the film, Felicia proposes that Olivia “try out” Julian, Felicia’s boyfriend. Yes, some people have open relationships, but this seems unlikely. Feeling like she can’t just write off sex without actually trying it first, Olivia agrees to have sex with Julian.

An unexpected visit from Olivia’s mother makes this experiment even more awkward for her. The film tries to establish a bond between James and Olivia’s mother, which is random. Any scene without Olivia just feels forced and irrelevant.

The film is based on this documentary experiment, but it only randomly cuts to strangers being interviewed. And it is never really explained why Olivia is still a virgin at 27 years old. I guess we’re supposed to assume that it is because she’s so awkward and focused on academics?

THE OLIVIA EXPERIMENT is rather predictable in all aspects. I feel like it was meant to have a realistic take on losing one’s virginity in adulthood. But what The 40-Year Old Virgin did right, this movie did wrong.

THE OLIVIA EXPERIMENT played in November at the St. Louis International Film Festival but was not reviewed here. Watch for it at upcoming festivals.