‘Everybody Wants to F*** Me’ Review: Taron Egerton Leads Genre-Bending Rom-Com Horror

Amidst the lingering discourse surrounding the film “Obsession,” Jonathan Schey’s directorial debut, “Everybody Wants to F*** Me,” has arrived to reignite conversations about young male desire and violence. Merging the tropes of romantic comedy with body horror and gender satire, the film follows a charming yet manipulative protagonist played by Taron Egerton. While the movie delivers alternately silly and nasty entertainment for most of its runtime, carrying the narrative on Egerton’s witty performance, it occasionally falters under sexual politics that may not be as progressive as the film believes.

The project premiered at Toronto to significant buzz, with reports of long queues snaking around city blocks, suggesting strong potential for viral engagement. The film executes a sharp genre pivot early on; what begins as a relatable study of modern romance transitions into supernatural territory, featuring sexually transmitted infection imagery reminiscent of David Cronenberg. This edgy novelty positions the debut well within a market that has grown less welcoming of traditional rom-coms, showcasing a slick, Scandi-inspired tone that indicates commercial promise for Schey.

Egerton portrays Adam, a clean-cut associate at a private London gallery dedicated to female artists. His character is immediately framed as potentially performative, surrounded by cultural signifiers such as Agnès Varda posters, Ottessa Moshfegh books, and a heterochromic dog named Alana. These elements suggest Adam curates an image of sophistication to attract women, a strategy confirmed in the opening scene where he poses as a girlfriend’s protector to secure a one-night stand.

Adam’s WhatsApp is filled with young women he has seduced and abandoned, with the exception of his lesbian best friend Emma, played by Charly Clive. However, his attempts to pick up Sofia, a cynical academic played by Jessica Henwick, are met with sharp criticism. She delivers the film’s standout line: “Men don’t actually like women — they just want women to like them.” Despite their encounter ending with Sofia ghosting him, Adam begins emitting pheromones that make him irresistibly attractive to women. As his sexual activity surges to uncomfortable levels and a purply rash develops, the film explores whether Adam is delusional or facing supernatural consequences, even hinting at extreme farcical scenarios.

Egerton anchors the absurd premise with a performance that shifts from cocksure to frantic, grounding the story in human reality. He portrays Adam not as overtly toxic, but as a man unaware of the privilege inherent in his social status. While the film invites the audience to pity Adam even as he suffers, the conclusion is viewed by some critics as conservative, steering toward monogamous domesticity rather than exploring equitable non-monogamous alternatives.