Upamanyu Biswas
Directed by Roger Kumble, ‘The Sweetest Thing’ depicts the raunchy misadventures of three women who constantly find themselves in outrageous situations and the comical ways in which they handle them. The film follows Christina Walters, a successful interior designer with a no-commitment policy in her romantic relationships. After she runs into Peter, a man with whom she has an immediate connection, Christina has to reconsider her approach and embark on a road trip with her friends, Courtney and Jane, to find him. During their journey, the three fall into a series of unexpected and over-the-top encounters, which lead to several hilarious outcomes.
The 2002 comedy film uncovers the crass and vulgar scenarios of the three central characters’ day-to-day routines as they attempt to pursue their desires without fumbling over their crude encounters. It never shirks from portraying brazen incidents befalling the group, pushing the boundaries on their blasé attitude to dealing with such issues and how they get over things fairly quickly. As the three best friends take off on their road trip, the connection between them becomes a central point of interest, drawing further inquiry about the roots of the narrative and the film’s basis in true events.
The Sweetest Thing is a Fictional Reinforcement of Womanhood Inspired by Its Writer’s Experiences
Exploring the saucy elements of common occurrences in the lives of its three best friend characters, ‘The Sweetest Thing’ is a fictional story that lends a bold perspective through its female-led comedy. The film was written by Nancy Pimental, who penned the script by drawing on her experiences as a waiter at a restaurant called Le Petit Four on Sunset Plaza. During her time working there, Pimental was privy to several influential Saudi princes who would drop by the place, drawn by the allure of the female waitresses there. There was lots of publicity for the cuisine, primarily due to the all-female catering staff, who were called “Calvin Klein model waitresses.” The women who worked there were often tipped large sums of money, bolstering their self-worth and pride.
“It was this weird attention that we got at this restaurant.” Pimental said in a 2018 interview with Entertainment Weekly. “We made so much money. I mean, I can remember one table gave me a $1500 tip. It was crazy, we were making so much money at the time, and getting invited to these Saudi parties and stuff like that. There was this group of girls and we were running around town and partying at these different clubs and just owning our womanhood, I guess. It’s not like we were really sleeping around with any of them or anything, but we were just owning our womanhood. I just thought, ‘God, there’s not an example of this sort of girl posse where we’re more like guys.'”
Determined to depict a narrative in which women seek out their wants and needs unashamedly, the writer wanted to address a gap within the comedy genre that had yet to be filled. ‘The Sweetest Thing’ is built on the internal premise of empowering without taking anything away and without passing any judgment other than one filtered through the lens of comedy. The three friends are regularly put in the throes of one hilariously staged circumstance after another in their journey to find romantic love. Often, these scenarios are sex-themed, which brings with it a sense of excitement and the possibility of breaking the limits on what is possible and what isn’t.
The Coarse and Racy Comedic Tone in The Sweetest Thing is Set By its Writer
Although ‘The Sweetest Thing’ primarily focuses on the love and support offered by the three women at the center of the piece, their daily affairs are sprinkled with a catalog of raunchy accidents that befall them in spectacular ways. The film is unabashed in its portrayal of the hilarity and the shocking nature of these setups, often using it as a means to humanize and ridicule them. Explaining her thought process, writer Nancy Pimental said, “Here’s the thing, I was still on South Park at the time when I wrote this, and what I always say about myself, my sense of humor, my sensibility, and the raunch-factor of my voice is, I feel like I’m a 12-year-old boy.”
Pimental described her encounters with adult sexual humor as a cringe-worthy ordeal, preferring the more immature and childish perspective instead. “I kind of look at it in such a 12-year-old boy sort of way,” she said. “It’s goofy, almost like a Monty Python kind of way, more silly. Back then, there weren’t a lot of female-driven R-rated comedies, and so I think that there was a gap.” Looking to bridge that empty void in comedic filmography, the writer sought to craft a narrative that doesn’t always toe the line of decency but ventures into grounds that are rarely tread in female-based comedy films. In doing so, ‘The Sweetest Thing’ explores its adult, risqué humor by delving into a fictional story inspired by the writer’s imagination and experiences.
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