Rudolph playfully returns to favored motifs in this movie, piloting a large ensemble into the past for both an overview of and a plunge into romantic complications. In the 1920s, an hilarious Nick Nolte bankrolls sex research by academic Dermot Mulroney with stenographers Neve Campbell and Robin Tunney; aiding and/or abetting are Alan Cumming, Jeremy Davies, Julie Delpy, Terrence Howard, Til Schweiger, and Tuesday Weld.