First premiering at SXSW in 2024, Lilly Singh’s latest film—which she also co-wrote—is finally available to stream on Paramount+. The sex comedy is audacious, but is it worth checking out this weekend?
DOIN’ IT: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The Gist: After a sexually compromising moment publicly humiliates Maya (and her conservative mom), she’s moved back to India where her sexuality is repressed. When Maya returns to America years later to pursue a tech career, she’s a 30-year-old virgin with little to no sexual knowledge or experience. Maya’s tech career fails to take off and, instead, she accepts a job as a substitute sex-ed teacher where she has to learn about modern day conventions alongside her students.
What Movies Will It Remind You Of? The approach to sex in Doin’ It harkens back to teen sex comedies of the late ‘90s and early 2000s, like American Pie and The 40 Year-Old Virgin.
Performance Worth Watching: Lilly Singh establishes herself as a leading lady with the ability to command the frame as the central character Maya. While the film is a bit off-kilter story-wise, Singh delivers a great comedic performance.
Sex And Skin: As you can probably guess by the premise of the film, there are plenty of suggestive and sexually tinged moments in the film—including the opening sequence, which sets the tone accurately.
Our Take: Doin’ It is centered in a culture clash of American sex-positivity and Indian conservatism, but ultimately feels stuck in a dated version of both. Penned in part by Singh but directed by Sara Zandieh, the movie traffics in extreme stereotypes on both ends—hypersexualized Western values on one end, and sexual repression on the other. The result feels like a film that takes place in (and should’ve come out in) the early 2000s rather than 2026.
The movie’s premise isn’t altogether bad, and it has good intentions as it pertains to commenting on the puritanical sex education offered in American high schools. (However, that approach being at odds with Eastern views of American culture is never discussed—a missed opportunity.) The film overall doesn’t feel entirely rooted in reality (Maya’s lesbian best friend Jess, played by Sabrina Jalees, quite literally only talks about sex) and Maya’s virginity becomes an afterthought in the story instead of something that is developed alongside her revised sex-ed curriculum. Unfortunately, even Singh’s comedic pedigree can’t save the misshapen story.
Our Call: SKIP IT. Though it has funny moments and an interesting premise, Doin’ It traffics more in stereotypes than resonant character beats.
Radhika Menon (@menonrad) is a film and TV writer based in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared on Vulture, Teen Vogue, ELLE, and more. She is the co-host of the podcast PromRad with fellow Decider contributor Proma Khosla. At any given moment, she can ruminate at length over Friday Night Lights, the University of Michigan, and the perfect slice of pizza. You may call her Rad.
