Antarctica (2008)

Reyhan Harmanci, San Francisco Chronicle

Although "Antarctica" is far racier, less slapstick and of course not a television show, I couldn't stop thinking about "Friends" while watching the Israeli coming-of-age comedy. It has all the same elements: an outrageously attractive cast, somewhat wooden acting and a revolving bedroom door. The city of Tel Aviv seems to have shrunk to a population of around 10 people, with one street, one shop, one coin laundry, one library and, of course, the coffee shop.

"Antarctica" produces some nice moments between characters, but the artificial setup makes for many awkward, hollow interactions. What the film does have going for it are frequent and passionate sex scenes. These encounters have an honesty that the movie lacks - they do more for character development than the dialogue does.

The film opens with a series of split-screen encounters between one man (Boaz, played by Ofer Regirer) and a series of other men - shy dancer Danny (Yiftach Mizrahi), sexy journalist Ronen (Guy Zo-Aretz), comic relief character Miki (Yuval Raz), the eminently forgettable Eiten (Oshri Sahar) and the nerdy Omer (Tomer Ilan), who turns out to be the protagonist of the film.

The opening sets a brisk, if confusing, pace. Clearly, hook-up culture is as prevalent in Israel as it is in the United States. Names are seldom exchanged - hence the running joke about the slutty Boaz continuing to forget his encounters with Eiten until they meet again, in bed.

From that montage beginning, a title card announces that the main action takes place three years later. Omer, a good-looking gay librarian who is about to turn 30 (maybe the Courtney Cox/Monica character?) is clearly hungry for love. He goes on a blind date with the younger Danny (last seen shagging the much-older Boaz), which leaves both men feeling "eh." Meanwhile, Miki takes his Internet interactions offline with Ronan, who, most improbably for a journalist in this century, makes eyes at Omer at the library where he does research. He also, it must be said, looks much more like an underwear model than a reporter.

Omer's cute, lesbian kid sister, Shirley (Lucy Dubinchik), has some romantic troubles of her own - she was engaged to be married but longs to travel the world before settling down. At least, that's what she tells the older lesbian owner of the coffee shop, Michal (Liat Akta), whose over-the-top sexual innuendo toward Shirley seems more like workplace harassment than charming banter.

Like "Friends," these characters only seem to interact with each other. Perched on his stool at the library, the perpetually frowning Omer waits for friends to drop by. Ronan interviews a wacky author at Shirley's coffee shop and then later goes on a date with Miki there. Boaz, perhaps the least fleshed out character of the lot, runs into Danny, with whom he had a hot monthlong fling three years before, in a dance studio and pines for him (while continuing to sleep with many others.) And so on and so forth.

Part of the movie's problem is its length. At almost two hours, the inevitable plot machinations grind slowly. Ronen and Omer finally hang out but are stopped by Miki's fling with Ronen. The coffee shop's open-mike nights provide music for the soundtrack - a particularly alarming choice by the filmmakers - which is supposed to underline the characters' emotions. But the locale doesn't offer any insight into the characters. The film could have been shot on a soundstage in Los Angeles as easily as the streets of Tel Aviv.

Still, "Friends" was a hit for a reason: It's fun to see attractive people get together and fall apart. "Antarctica" offers the same soap-opera-like rewards to the audience. It was refreshing, too, to see the entirely queer world of the film presented so straightforwardly (no pun intended). However, romantic comedies in general are hard to pull off, and although "Antarctica" doesn't succeed as a love story, it manages a few hot nights along the way.