Public Sex (2009) User Reviews

It had promise, but failed to even make it to the car-park...

[the_rattlesnake25 · 4/10 · 8 January 2010]

Dogging is as British as Earl Grey tea and frozen football pitches on windy January afternoon, and it is definitely an interesting subject in which to base a film upon. In case you are wondering, Wikipedia defines the sexual act of 'dogging' as;"engaging in sexual act/s in a semi-public place (typically a secluded car park in a car) and then watching others doing so." This sexual act (or acts) is the pretext for the loose romantic plot behind Simon Ellis's first feature-film in which four people's lives and relationships revolve around the act of dogging.

Dan (Luke Treadaway) is an aspiring, unemployed journalist who is hoping to set the media world alight by writing an article on the act of dogging and what people attain from the activity. Being unemployed, he sleeps on his best friend's Rob's (Richard Riddell) couch. Rob is a man's man, his job as an estate agent is only worthwhile to him as it allows him to meet and exploit plenty of mature, divorced women looking for a new abode. The film's core storyline revolves around Dan's deteriorating relationship with his girlfriend of four years Tanya (Sammy Dobson) and the unlikely relationship he strikes up with Laura (Kate Heppell), a young, curious and naive new member of the local dogging community. Continually the characters motives change within the film and we are given no indication or explanation why this happens, constantly keeping the audience at arm's-length rather than drawing them further into the characters lives.

Ellis's film, to be fair, does have its fair few moments of cheap humour, which almost entirely occur while the characters are involved on an excursion to a local car-park. Dan's first adventure out within the world of the 'doggers' will certainly bring forth a few chuckles. But its main setback is that the central theme of relationships is incredibly shallow and only barely scraps the surface of what would have made for an interesting story. The combination of using both first (Dan) and third person perspectives (unknown owner of a night-vision camera who's identity is later revealed) in the film also seems to be somewhat redundant and adds nothing but a few extra minutes to the running-time of the film.

'Dogging: A Love Story' had an interesting, and experimental premise that potentially could have made for very fun and engaging film, however it falls flat with a thin story and one-dimensional characters.

How a Great Idea becomes Annoying

[in1984 · 5/10 · 24 April 2010]

Add an original story concept about something seldom talked about publicly, include lively, interesting actors, then conclude the story by by using every cliché available.

Sadly, this could have been far better than it turns out. It's definitely not the fault of anybody but the writer or whoever had final say on how the film ended.

The actors, camera people, post-production, sound crew, basically everyone but the writer, do everything possible to keep the film enjoyable despite the script. Hopefully, it was more of a studio/producer issue forcing a plain, boring, predictable, tedious, uncreative, pre-packaged ending on it because the plot and first hour really did show promise.

embarrassingly poor

[cudas · 3/10 · 3 March 2009]

Astonishing that this was the only British film reckoned worthy of a slot in the Tiger Competition at Rotterdam 2009. Programming the film at all was a baffling move, but to position it in such a prestigious slot is an embarrassment for all concerned.

It's a rubbishy, mirthless Brit-com that's opportunistic and exploitative, but without any of the positives of old-school "exploitation cinema."

Slim but convoluted plot hangs on the illicit sexual activity 'dogging' - semi-public in-car coitus - a practice that made some salacious UK tabloid headlines a couple of years back.

Here it becomes the saucy/seedy pretext for a sloppily-scripted, tut-tutting exercise in larkish prurience, involving various feckless young adults (one of them a priapic Geordie satyr played by newcomer Richard Riddell, who deserves much better material) in and around the Newcastle region.

NB : Given the location and subject-matter, surely 'Go Forth, Tyne Dogger' would have been a better title.

Bright interior car lights, blurred language

[Pro Jury · 2/10 · 15 August 2010]

Lots of actor-operated hand-held camera shots (ala CLOVERFIELD). Lots of cars driving around at night with bright interior lights. Lots of trees. Lots of people appearing out of nowhere from behind the trees. Was it mentioned that the cars have bright interior lights as they drive around?

What is missing are subtitles. The thick British English is impossible to understand. How come the Pythons, Benny Hill and the English TV stars seen on PBS are all so easy to understand, but not today's British movie actors? PUBLIC SEX seems to be harmless as a film, but not all that interesting. I might rate it higher if I can see it with subtitles.

This was just a swing and a miss...

[paul_haakonsen · 2/10 · 11 February 2021]

When I sat down to watch the 2009 British movie "Dogging: A Love Story" I was under the assumption that I was in for a comedy movie. Granted, I hadn't even heard about the movie prior to 2021, as I had the chance to sit down to watch it.

Well, I made it half way through, then I simply gave up on the movie out of sheer and pure boredom. This movie was unfathomably slow paced and unappealing. Amazing that writers Brock Norman Brock and Michael Groom could collectively manage to come up with a story about absolutely nothing.

And not even the characters in the story had any appeal. They were just milling about with every bit lack of appeal as the movie. I can honestly say that I don't even remember the name of any of the characters. And it didn't help much that they had the appeal of wet cardboard. I am sure that the actors and actresses were doing good enough jobs, but they virtually had nothing to work with here.

As for this being a comedy, well then it sure was a swing and a miss from director Simon Ellis. I didn't even laugh once, nor did I even manage to get a smile from what transpired on the screen.

This is not a movie that I will be returning to watch the rest of, as I simply just have absolutely no interest in the storyline or the characters. And it is not a movie that I would recommend you waste your time, money or effort on.

My rating of Simon Ellis's 2009 movie "Dogging: A Love Story" lands on a mere two out of ten stars, based mostly on the fact that it seemed that some effort was actually put into the movie.

Misfiring Brit comedy with no Stan Collymore either

[wellthatswhatithinkanyway · 2/10 · 21 February 2010]

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

So we have another Brit com aimed at the more laddish end of the British movie going population, this time exploring the phenomenon of 'dogging', where (in case you didn't know) people have sex in cars inviting others to watch. Truly an issue that needed addressing in amongst all the other important stuff going on in the world...it just needed the right film to address it, surely? Sadly, Simon Ellis's film just isn't it, an overlong, granily shot, largely plot less and rarely funny comedy drama that despite it's original touches (the cocksure chav with a heart of gold, the nice at heart girl who uses dogging sites to escape the clutches of her over protective father and the loss of her mother, the arrogant best mate who's really pathetic and vulnerable underneath) and despite not being as deplorable as the likes of Sex Lives of the Potato Men, still fails to really leave much of an impression at all. Since his 'acting' career hasn't been up to much since Basic Instink-t 2, why didn't they get ol' Stan Collymore involved for some more expert opinion? *

Naughty Little Gem

[hotfriend1 · 7/10 · 14 April 2012]

I'd never heard of "dogging" before catching "Public Sex" on Sundance. Even British reviews of this UK flick took inexplicable pleasure in belittling it. At a minimum, it deserves a cult following, much like its subject. Subtitled "A Love Story," this overlooked, naughty-but-nice gem uses occasional pseudo-documentary touches. Its main character, a young, unemployed, "investigative" journalist, shines a light, if you will, on the British phenom of dogging, couples shagging inside cars, at night, in public areas frequented for just that purpose. And dogging devotees aren't particularly shy about onlookers. Asked "How did you get into it?," one dogger responds, "How can you not get into it?" This proves true as the characters in "Public Sex" use dogging to find what they're really looking for and discover that, as one car door closes, another opens. Dogging, anyone?

Excellent Film!

[matthew-577-105392 · 7/10 · 8 November 2009]

I thought this was a great film.

At first I thought the dogging would be the main focus, but as the film progressed a rather sweet and sometimes subtle love story emerged, which overtook the admittedly stark world of dogging. Some very good performances, the Chav being my fave, though what he was doing in Newcastle I don't know.

There's some great subtle comedy - the dogger who takes notes like a train spotter, and the doggers who oooo! and aaaa! at another doggers setup in his car, as if they were looking at a pigeon loft. Very northern UK-centric, but very funny.

Having a Wee Bit of a Snog, Guv'nor?

[NoDakTatum · 6/10 · 21 October 2023]

This film is about sex. It contains a whole lot of sex, and the no-strings-attached, anonymous sex is portrayed so unseemly. Dan (Luke Treadaway) is an unemployed journalist. He decides to write an investigative article about a new craze called "dogging." Doggers go to parking lots and have sex in their parked cars, inviting onlookers and in some cases, participants. Dan goes into online chat rooms, and begins anonymously communicating with Laura (Kate Heppell). Laura lives with her bitter father, her mother left them, and is hassled at college by Jim (Michael Socha), who fancies himself a pimp. He goes to the same unemployed jobs program as Dan. Dan lives with his cousin Rob (Richard Riddell), who is obsessed with noncommitted sex, settling with his equally hot-to-trot cougar girlfriend Sarah (Justine Glenton). Dan's better half Tanya (Sammy Dobson) is cheating on him with her boss, Winston (Sean Francis). All of these lives, and possible relationships, converge in a giant dogging gathering in the Lake District in England.

The intersecting storylines are easy to keep up with, even if this device has been done before. What is hard to understand is some of the characters' motivations for staying in their present situations. Tanya is a horrible woman. Rob quickly grates on the nerves. Jim is almost hit by cars a couple of times, and you will wish you were behind the wheel. Unfortunately, our heroic couple, Dan and Laura, also have their bad moments. The screenwriters, Brock Norman Brock and Michael Groom, do not give us enough interaction between the two to think "gosh, I hope they make it". Director Simon Ellis does well keeping the plots moving, even interspersing man on the street interviews about what "dogging" is. His young cast all do fine, considering some of the odious people they are portraying. The film is not hardcore pornographic, but easily on the NC-17 level in showing us various sex acts and more F-bombs than a Martin Scorsese picture. Most of this is shot in night-vision by a mysterious camera man whose identity is revealed in the final scenes. Also, the film is veddy British. The accents are porridge-thick, and some of the slang was completely lost on me, and I lived in England for a while and thought I could understand English English. "Dogging: A Love Story" (I hate the U. S. title- "Public Sex") is a tough film to like. While it does finally take the stand that love and relationships cannot be built on casual sex with unknown people, it dwells on this point until the fast forward button on the remote control started to tempt me.