Kenneth (Desmond Harrington of Wrong Turn) is a socially inept technical writer who throws himself into his work because of his low self-esteem. When his co-workers play a joke on him by giving him a picture of an ultra-realistic pleasure doll, Kenneth slowly starts to become obsessed with the 'love object' (named Nikki).

Despite the fact that it's extremely expensive, soon he breaks down and orders one over the Internet. When the neighbors in his small apartment building see him with a huge box being delivered, he tells them it's a new refrigerator. Kenneth customizes the doll to look just like his new co-worker, Lisa (the lovely Melissa Sagemiller of Soul Survivor). She's a pretty blonde with a nice smile and soon, because of all the practice time he gets in with 'Nikki,' Kenneth decides he can make his move on Lisa. The two get off to a rocky start, but soon develop a nice relationship both in and out of the work place.

Soon though, things take a downward spiral when Kenneth begins obsessing over Nikki to the point that it interferes with his relationship with the 'real life' Lisa. Their relationship begins to crumble as Nikki seems to be exerting more and more control over Kenneth's world, and more specifically, his actions.

By reading the plot description you can see how the film would open itself up quite easily for some black humor, and that's exactly what it does. The first hour of the movie, though it has a very obvious dark streak running through it, almost plays out like an absurdist sex comedy. The last half hour changes all that though, and while it never gets as plain out nasty as something like Takashi Miike's masterpiece Audition (a film it has surprisingly been compared to a few times in the press), it certainly does get more than just a little weird.

For a first time director, let alone a writer/director, Robert Parigi does an admirable job with the film. It's very well paced, humorous in the right places without spoiling the atmosphere, and contains some pretty solid acting from the two leads. Desmond Harrington does a great job as Kenneth, a man chained to a job that will seem all too familiar to desk jockeys like myself, and Melissa Sagemiller is quite good in her role as the not so self assured new girl at work, Lisa. Through in bit parts from Udo Kier (Mark Of The Devil) and Rip Torn of all people, and you've got an interesting cast.

The only problem with the film lays not in the style or the performances, but in the story itself. By the time that the pleasure doll arrives, we're fairly certain where the movie is heading. It's a good story, but one that is slightly predictable and a little too easy to figure out.

Video:

Lion's Gate has supplied Love Object with a pretty good-looking 1.78.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. There is a fine layer of grain throughout the film and a few scenes have slightly (intentionally?) muted colors, but overall, aside from a bit of edge enhancement things look pretty good. The movie plays around with a very drab color scheme and this transfer does a good job of bringing that gloomy mundane feel to the forefront, which is important considering the themes that the film plays around with.