TV Reviews : MTV’s ‘Smart Sex’ Informs, Entertains

Announces Christian Slater at the top of tonight’s MTV special, “This is a story from the front line--the line that we’re all on--so listen up.” Yep, it’s just us and Slater, slugging it out side by side in the sexual trenches, as the channel’s look at “Smart Sex” unveils.

Those who don’t quite cotton to the concept of Slater as fellow soldier or, worse, safe-sex preacher may be pleased to know that the actor pretty effectively disappears for the following hour. What ensues is an unnarrated (but none the worse for it) cross-section of American young adults’ attitudes toward sexuality and disease control, smart or not nearly so.

It’s probably safe to presume that MTV found most of these post-adolescents by going through the “Real World” reject applications, but don’t hold that against them: The sample is wider as well as more representative than you might expect.

There’s the take-control Latina who marches down to the local pharmacist and announces, “Quiero latex”; the literal Okie from Muskogee who contracted HIV during his furtive cruising visits to the park; the African American girl who leads pro-abstinence rallies; the wholesome Tallahassee college couple who’ve put off having sex for months, but are just about ready; a Queens single mom who contracted AIDS through heterosexual contact; and, of course, several more of the sexually active target demo who do practice what passes for safety.

Entertaining and not too heavy-handed, “Smart Sex” has the good sense to offer a moral shopper’s list of more upbeat stories amid the cautionary tales, though its most inevitable purpose is as a “Scared Straight” for kids who haven’t yet figured out that STD isn’t an acronym for Stone Temple Pilots.

* “Smart Sex” airs at 10 tonight on MTV.