What would you do if you received an e-mail listing all the people you've had sex with - and all the people you ever will have sex with? I know this much: Unlike the pretty boy in the tiresome black comedy "Sex and Death 101," I'd look at every name on the list before embarking on a year between the sheets. Humans are curious creatures, you know.

I'm not sure that the movie's horn-dog hero, a successful business exec named Roderick Blank (Simon Baker) is actually human, though.

Roderick begins the movie engaged to Fiona, a woman he thinks is Ms. Right. Then he gets the list. (You don't want to know the particulars.) Fiona lands at No. 29, which means Roderick has 72 more names on his literal to-do list.

Needless to say, Roderick calls off the wedding, and embarks on a series of mostly interchangeable one-night stands that include encounters with a centerfold model, a lesbian power couple and even a flirtation with necrophilia. (Thankfully, Roderick is apparently an only child.)

But as he crosses the names off his list, Roderick never bothers to look ahead to see if the future holds drunken encounters with Britney Spears or Paris Hilton, a night with a rebounding Ashley Dupre or a mistake with his wisecracking lesbian Girl Friday assistant (Mindy Cohn).

That's because writer-director Daniel Walters is only committed to his premise to a point. The movie aims to be an unbridled sex farce, but the sex is never all that hot and the jokes are rarely all that funny. Instead, the movie looks and plays like a somewhat racy cable-ready fantasy full of repetitive humor, one-dimensional characters and an unearned walk into the sunset.

The film's one grace note comes near the end when Winona Ryder, seen fleetingly throughout the movie as a flimsy femme fatale character, is given the opportunity to demonstrate why she remains a welcome presence on the screen.

Walters wrote "Heathers," Ryder's breakthrough role, and she returns the favor here, imbuing "Sex and Death" with a few genuine, tender moments. The turn isn't enough to save the movie, but it might help Ryder continue her trek on the comeback trail.

Glenn Whipp

SEX AND DEATH 101

R: sex, language, violence.

Starring: Simon Black, Winona Ryder.

Director: Daniel Walters.

Running time: 1 hr. 56 min.

Playing: Laemmle's Playhouse 7 in Pasadena; Laemmle's Sunset 5 in West Hollywood; Laemmle's Monica in Santa Monica.

In a nutshell: Sex farce in which the sex isn't all that hot and the jokes aren't all that funny.