The Oh In Ohio boasts two scenes that rival Dirty Love's infamous Jenny McCarthy-slipping-around-in-menstrual-blood setpiece for sheer excruciating awfulness. In one, a far-too-game Liza Minnelli leads non-orgasmic Parker Posey and a gaggle of women in a class on masturbation and sexual liberation. In the other, a newly hyper-orgasmic Posey attempts to deliver an important presentation to potential clients, only to be thwarted by the vibrator in her panties, which is delivering body-wracking sexual delight. Of course, sex comedies often glean laughs out of sexual humiliation, but when the laughs don't come—and The Oh In Ohio is devoid of even the mildest chuckles—all that's left is the humiliation.
As the film begins, pathological optimist Posey and her morbidly depressed husband Paul Rudd seem to be occupying different universes. Accordingly, after the miserable couple splits up, they seem to occupy entirely different movies as well. The usually reliable Rudd is stuck in a second-rate American Beauty knockoff about a depressed middle-aged man who gets his groove back by smoking weed, working out, and shtupping 18-year-old student Mischa Barton; meanwhile, Posey is mired in a leering sex comedy about a frustrated wife who begins masturbating like a 14-year-boy with unlimited access to pornography after she discovers the magic of vibrators.
In its last 20 minutes or so, The Oh In Ohio morphs unsteadily into still another movie, this time a sweet, character-based comedy about Posey finding sexual and emotional satisfaction with a wealthy widower played by Danny DeVito. The DeVito scenes aren't particularly sharp or funny, but after a seeming eternity of half-baked drama and viscerally awkward "comic" scenes, they can't help but feel like sweet relief. It's never a promising sign when an attractive young woman's insatiable sexual desire for Danny DeVito represents the most convincing and compelling aspect of a movie, but that's the best this one can do.