TAKEN at face value, Chris Waitt's documentary is a remarkably candid, honest and unsparing self-portrait. He introduces himself as an independent film-maker who draws on his profession to address his catalogue of disastrous relationships through interviews with the many former partners who dumped him.
Their responses are, almost without exception, blunt and negative. Or, as he euphemistically puts it: "Not everybody seemed as enthusiastic about my project as I was." That's understandable given that he emerges as hopelessly naive and self-deluded, and that he looks so dishevelled. And his problems are compounded when he suffers from erectile dysfunction.
The movie trades in the comedy of embarrassment and is entertainingly cringe-inducing. The funniest scene finds Waitt in the dungeon of a dominatrix, with consequences that will have male viewers crossing their legs. The most implausible comes when he overdoses on Viagra and takes to the streets, pathetically asking complete strangers for sex.
To Waitt's credit, he breaks an unspoken role of documentary- making by drawing attention to the camera that follows him and emphasising how aware the participants are of its presence at all times. That alerts the audience to the artifice of an exercise that deftly blurs fact and fiction.
Watching what passes for reality TV will never be the same again, or as much fun.
• In Dublin for this weekend's Darklight festival, Chris Waitt will discuss his film after the 6pm screening at the IFI tomorrow
