Teach Me

Though not all sex comedies are necessarily romances, the best tend to give equal attention to both heart and loins, else run the risk of feeling soulless. Teach Me pulls this off with verve and charm. What starts as a deceptively simple farce about an unlikely affair endears itself to the audience with such subtlety that we fall in love with the protagonists without even realising it.

Simon (Andy Peppiette) is 18 and crippled with the usual adolescent self-doubt, particularly about his own non-existent sexual experience. Emma (Amy Drummond) is 28 and struggling to cope under the pressures of an adulthood in which all her friends are getting married and starting families. Somehow, the two find themselves in a bedroom at a party, and when Simon misinterprets Emma's offer to give him some tips, he initiates a hilariously awkward seduction which, to his and her surprise, Emma eventually consents to. With a string of mangled relationships behind her, Emma is initially keen to forget her night with the "man-child," but soon, neither of them can get the other out of their head...

What keeps the audience gripped as well as laughing is the fact that the twists of Simon and Emma's relationship are genuinely unpredictable, surprising us, as well as the characters themselves, as they become more entangled in each other's lives and affections. Witty but believable dialogue maintains a sense of realism throughout, inter-scene monologues flesh out the characters superbly, and the climactic final line should make any audience cheer.