Although XX/XY boasts four principal characters and a steamy story about boozy threesomes and extramarital affairs, don't expect The Real Cancun 2. Directed by newcomer Austin Chick, the film centres on Coles (You Can Count on Me's Mark Ruffalo), a slacker film student-turned failed filmmaker who can't seem to shake his delinquent college self.

XX/XY's first half follows Coles, Thea and Sam (Kathleen Robertson and Maya Stange), three university friends who live the wild life, showing little regard for moral or genital barriers of any kind. After a night of partying leads to an unplanned triple-play, Sam and Coles find themselves falling into a doomed half-relationship, marred by Coles' irresponsibility and Thea's open-legs policy.

Shoot forward 10 years, and Coles has settled down, working for an ad agency and catering to his angular long-time girlfriend Claire (Petra Wright). As one might expect, he runs into Sam, and in a matter of frames the two have reconnected with Thea, rekindled their lust, and wreaked havoc on Coles' stability.

The film artfully explores the lines between fun and betrayal, and the things time can and can't do to someone's personality. The dialogue is rife with clichés, but the cast delivers them with skill and sincerity, making them embarrassingly familiar rather than just embarrassing.

Wright plays Claire perfectly, radiating the kind of maturity that turns a loved one's cute quirks into irritations. Although Ruffalo is the film's face, expressing equal parts disdain and confused guilt, Wright's forced shallowness is its scared, angry heart. It's simultaneously a cruel reminder of why fantasy sex rarely works, and why love, though painful, is a pretty good idea after all.

The film's ultimate question falls a little flat -- "Why'd ya hafta go and make it so complicated?" -- but its portrayal of human relationships as complete messes hits some very real raw spots. Superficially a romantic drama, XX/XY plays like a horror movie in which sex and love draw all the blood.

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