Sharp Stick

26-year-old Sarah Jo (Kristine Froseth) babysits for a family of two parents, Heather (Lena Dunham) and Josh (Jon Bernthal) and their son, Zach, who has down syndrome.

Sarah Jo lives with her single mother, Marilyn, and sister, Treina. During a discussion about love and male attraction, Marilyn advises her daughters to ask a man she admires, “Do you find me beautiful?”

The next day, Sarah Jo and Josh are alone in the family’s laundry room when Sarah Jo asks Josh if he finds her beautiful. Josh becomes flustered, and Sarah Jo lifts up her dress to reveal a scar above her vagina. Sarah Jo informs Josh that she had an emergency radical hysterectomy at age 15 which caused her to go into menopause by age 17. Sarah Jo tells Josh that she is a virgin, and Josh responds by saying that she wouldn’t want to lose her virginity to him. After some awkward rambling from Sarah Jo, Josh approaches Sarah Jo and asks if he can kiss her. Josh and Sarah Jo kiss, and Josh asks if he can go down on Sarah Jo. Josh performs oral sex on Sarah Jo and takes her virginity. Josh ejaculates quickly and becomes embarrassed. Sarah Jo reassures Josh, and he fingers Sarah Jo.[2]

The next day, Sarah Jo returns to work and sneaks up on Josh in the attic. Josh tells Sarah Jo that they cannot have sex again. Sarah Jo lifts up her dress to reveal her scar again. This turns Josh on, and the two have sex again.

Sarah Jo and Josh take a road trip to rural New York. The couple stays in a cabin while the two lie about their whereabouts; Josh claims to have a friend commitment, while Sarah Jo blames her absence on a family emergency. During the excursion, Sarah Jo and Josh consume hallucinogenic mushrooms and smoke marijuana. The two have sex repeatedly and watch porn together. Josh gives Sarah Jo a necklace. Sarah Jo goes home and continues to watch porn. She becomes interested in a porn actor named Vance Leroy.

When Sarah Jo returns to work, Heather’s water breaks and she goes into labor. Sarah Jo calls Josh and leans down to comfort Heather, who notices Sarah Jo’s necklace. When Josh arrives, Heather demands that she be taken to the hospital via ambulance. Josh, who has now realized that the affair has been revealed, screams at Sarah Jo. Sarah Jo leaves the house.

Distraught, Sarah Jo writes a letter to Vance Leroy about her sexual exploration. Sarah Jo creates two checklists of sex acts she wants to try, including “anal,” “blowjob,” and “necrophilia.” Excited to complete her checklist, Sarah Jo engages in a series of casual hookups. One fling, Arvin (Luka Sabbat), works in porn and promises to deliver her letter to Vance Leroy.

• Kristine Froseth as Sarah Jo
• Jon Bernthal as Josh
• Taylour Paige as Treina
• Jennifer Jason Leigh as Marilyn
• Lena Dunham as Heather
• Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Yuli
• Scott Speedman as Vance Leroy
• Luka Sabbat as Arvin
• Tommy Dorfman as Tali
• Janicza Bravo as Mercedes

Sharp Stick is the second feature film to be directed by Lena Dunham (pictured).

In April 2020, Lena Dunham moved from London to Silver Lake, Los Angeles, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. She passed the time watching a number of films from the 1970s, including Belle de Jour, A Woman Under the Influence, Remember My Name, and An Unmarried Woman. The films, as well as the impact of a hysterectomy, motivated Dunham to write, direct, and star in Sharp Stick. "It was about processing my life. And then, obviously, it becomes about the characters — and not about you at all." After receiving the script, Jon Bernthal and Jennifer Jason Leigh were immediately on board to star. Taylour Paige, however, was initially hesitant with joining the cast: "If I'm being honest. I was like, 'Don't you think this character was written as a white person?" Dunham convinced Paige to star by telling her that she had written the part with her in mind.[2]

With an all-female production crew, filming took place in secret in Atwater Village and Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, in early 2021. According to lead actress Kristine Froseth, "There was a good energy all around. We had an amazing intimacy coordinator. Everything was choreographed — no surprises." In March 2021, the film was presented to buyers at the 71st Berlin International Film Festival.[3] In August 2021, Tommy Dorfman was confirmed to star.[4] Dunham's husband Luis Felber composed the musical score.[2]

The film premiered virtually at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival on January 22. In an interview, Dunham said "There are many greater tragedies than me not getting to see my movie premiere but I was so excited for my cast to get to see it together. We did it on such a small scale, and everyone really brought everything to it. It was such a harkening back to how I started. But we're planning a Zoom party. I guess people Zoomed into my wedding — and they'll Zoom into my premiere."[2] In February 2022, Utopia acquired the film's distribution rights.[5] It was released in theaters on July 29, 2022.[6]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 49% of 102 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5/10. The website's consensus reads: "A series of promising ideas lost in scattershot execution, Sharp Stick stands as a disappointing setback for writer-director Lena Dunham."[7] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 53 out of 100, based on 29 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[8]

• Sharp Stick at IMDb