SEX, SEX AND MORE SEX: CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic

For a movie that isn't actually porn, ``Shortbus'' sure has a lot of real sex.

All flavors, too. Straight. Gay. Single participant. More than two participants. More than 20. Electronics-enhanced. Voyeur-assisted.

Dominatrix-guided. ``Star Spangled Banner''-accompanied ... graphically so.

OK, now you should know whether you can sit through ``Shortbus.'' The rest of this review is for those who think they want to.

Witty, funny, brave

John Cameron Mitchell's follow-up to ``Hedwig and the Angry Inch'' is, basically, a sex farce that emphasizes the key element that's rarely depicted in film, if at all. And ``Shortbus'' is well-stocked with witty lines, funny situations and credible, intelligent character insights. It's acted spectacularly and bravely, by a cast of unknowns. If you can swing with it, ``Shortbus'' is a lot of fun.

Until it shifts into a probably unavoidable serious mode.

That's when Mitchell and his actors -- who developed the script together during a series of improvisational workshops -- take stock of their characters' lives, loves and libidos. They all come to honest conclusions but, by nature, some of their realizations can't help seeming a little trite. A movie that, for the longest time, is as original as it is uninhibited -- and you'll see things you never have in a movie before -- ends up feeling just a little square.

The title refers to a salon in lower Manhattan where people go to share and discuss art, music, film, politics ... and then take off their clothes and jump all over one another. Sofia (Sook-Yin Lee) is a sex therapist who has never had an orgasm with her husband (Raphael Barker) or anyone else. She hears about Shortbus from a pair of gay clients and checks it out. Soon Sofia becomes a cause celebre for an assortment of sybarites, lesbians, sadomasochists and singer-songwriters, among other club patrons.

Even Shortbus' snippy host/ess Justin Bond takes a shot at making Sofia happy. S/he's played by, well, Justin Bond, who's apparently a big name in New York's trans-

entertainment scene. Bond initially comes off as a smart-

mouthed stereotype, but listen to his snippy epigrams; they're rich with canny cultural observation and deep ache.

Oh, how to choose

As for that gay couple, former child actor Jamie (PJ DeBoy) and ex-hustler James (Paul Dawson) want to ``monogamously'' experiment with a third party -- problem is, there are several candidates.

Furthermore, James isn't as into the idea as his partner is. This leads to tears, and perhaps far worse -- but also some pretty wacky encounters. And like everybody's quest for emotional and physical fulfillment in this movie, it yields hilarious dialogue that also manages to say a lot.

I guess Mitchell is trying to comment on repression in the post-9/11 world, and he's made it as specifically about New York as he can (panoramas of the city are rendered in blocky, color-saturated computer animation). But despite what many would call its peculiarities, the film really makes a universal statement.

Who, after all, hasn't tried to find themselves through pleasure? Maybe not in the ways ``Shortbus'' gleefully depicts, but in ones that have nonetheless left us feeling naked, uncertain and at least a little bit satisfied.

Bob Strauss, [phone]

[e-mail]

SHORTBUS - Three stars

(Not rated: hard-core sex, nudity, language, drug use, mild violence)

Starring: Sook-Yin Lee, Paul Dawson, Lindsay Beamish, PJ DeBoy, Raphael Barker, Jay Brennan.

Director: John Cameron Mitchell.

Running time: 1 hr. 42 min.

Playing: Laemmle Sunset 5, West Hollywood.

In a nutshell: Witty writing, excellent acting and, oh yeah, real sex of a mind-boggling diversity make for a truly adult romantic comedy; i.e., one that stimulates the mind as much as any lower organs.

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All kinds of characters -- and all kinds of sex -- abound in the hard-core, but oddly interesting, ``Shortbus.''