Doin’ It is one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in a long time. This R-rated comedy has refreshing social and cultural commentary powered by key messages and hilarious one-liners about taboo topics.
Lilly Singh plays Maya, an app developer from a conservative Indian family who becomes a sex ed teacher for market research. She’s “more of an HTML kind of girl than an STD kind of girl” who’s willing to do whatever it takes to become successful. Then Maya teaches teens about sex, dating and relationships while simultaneously learning herself.
The 30-year-old virgin’s story is reminiscent of Never Been Kissed (1999) and The Life List (2025). She’s lucky to have a friend named Jess (Sabrina Jalees) who helps her complete a high school bucket list filled with coming of age moments she missed while living in India. You’ll never look at a grocery store the same way after Jess teaches Maya the ins and outs of sex with fruits and vegetables.
Maya’s very likeable, but she relies on liquid courage from alcohol too much. For example, Jess insists it will give her confidence to flirt in a bar. Later, Maya only reconnects with an old friend after buying more wine bottles to deal with stress from school management. And then he insists the best way to catch up is by getting high! Some of these scenes about drinking and drugs overshadow an otherwise smart script.
Anticipating that the Netflix series Never Have I Ever would become top of mind, they included clips as conversation starters! Maya watches it with her mom (Sonia Dhillon Tully) as a jumping off point to discuss their relationships. Utkarsh Ambudkar is a familiar face in the supporting cast because he also appeared in Never Have I Ever. Very meta!
Finally, you need to see how the drama culminates in a laugh out loud school board meeting. It starts out sterile until Maya’s monologue inspires spur of the moment confessions from parents, students and teachers alike.
Showing Ontario license plates in an American city is a continuity error, but Doin’ It deserves good grades for storytelling overall. Maya’s app investor is one of many unexpected twists that proves society underestimates people too often. Kudos to Lilly Singh and the production team for making a movie I want to rewatch!
Disclaimer: I received a screener copy of Doin’ It for review. The timing was perfect after finishing My Life With The Walter Boys on Netflix, which also filmed in Canada.
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