Despite the explicit sex (much of it of the gay variety), I'm surprised that the film hasn't drawn the ire of religious conservatives and right wing big mouths (there goes liberal Hollywood again!).
Although the film was initially released in NY/LA/SFO, it's now playing in Nashville, Charlotte, Dallas, Salt Lake City, Kansas City, Calgary. Nary a complaint.
I saw it and recommended it to a friend who agreed that although the film isn't about a whole lot (not much plot, in other words), it has a very positive, uplifting spirit.
Roger Ebert gave it 3.5 stars, and concludes in his
review:QUOTE
Like its utopian fantasy miniature, "Shortbus" is a sweet, tender, playful pleasure -- so much so that, when an old man who identifies himself as the former mayor says that New York is where people come seeking forgiveness, you actually believe him, even though the words "New York" and "forgiveness" have probably never been uttered in the same sentence before. And by the time Justin Bond's bullhorn baritone croons "Everybody Gets It In the End," the thin characterizations and soapy sitcom plot contrivances melt away in a cleansing, melancholy humor, and you notice that something quite magical and moving -- and healing -- is taking place, for real, right before your eyes.