Sure, it’s sweet and salty, but don’t women want sex too?

RICHARD WONG’S sweet and salty sex comedy, a remake of a Belgian indie movie, wants to bust myths about disability. The protagonists are three male virgins — Mo (Ravi Patel), visually impaired; Scotty (Grant Rosenmeyer), in a wheelchair since childhood; Matt (Hayden Szeto), a jock with a mysterious, recently acquired, illness. They escape their mollycoddling parents to visit a Montreal brothel where they’ll be treated like VIPs.

The acting, across the board, is spry. Rosenmeyer gets the most laughs as an insecure blowhard who can spank his monkey to anything, even bridal magazines. Meanwhile, the relationship that develops between tender Mo and tough carer/chauffeur Sam (Gabourey Sidibe, the jaw-droppingly talented star of Precious) proves gloriously organic.That said, Patel and Rosenmeyer are able-bodied. Why weren’t disabled actors cast in these parts?

Equally frustrating is the way disabled women have been airbrushed from the landscape. The script’s liberal message is that men (handicapped or otherwise) should stop lusting after porny paragons and appreciate “real” girls. But the “real” girls here are all able-bodied. Our heroes don’t interact with a single disabled woman. It goes without saying that we never find out if blind and/or wheelchairbound females might want to visit brothels too.

Compare this to Sanctuary, a fantastic Irish film about a group of young men and women desperate for independence and sex performed by actors with intellectual disabilities. Come As You Are thinks it’s radically inclusive. Come again?

⬤ Premium Video on Demand and released on digital download from August 10