--- description: Find out why "Shortbus" is on TIME's list of the 50 most underappreciated movies of the 21st Century. title: 'Shortbus' Is on The 50 Most Underappreciated Movies of the 21st Century image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3205046876f67318/6998cd4b7323af76242bd318/Underappreciated-Movies-Shortbus.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Feb 04, 2026 # _Shortbus_ John Cameron Mitchell by [Stephanie Zacharek](/author/stephanie-zacharek/) ## Stephanie Zacharek Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Film Critic  Justin Bond (center, looking up) in "Shortbus", 2006. Justin Bond (center, looking up) in "Shortbus", 2006.Think Film/Everett Collection [John Cameron Mitchell](https://time.com/3598107/hedwig-and-the-angry-inch-john-cameron-mitchell/ "undefined") and Stephen Trask’s glam-rock genderqueer extravaganza [_Hedwig and the Angry Inch_](https://time.com/archive/6734819/music-hedwig-and-the-angry-inch/ "undefined")—first an off-Broadway hit and later an inventive, affecting movie—is one of the only truly swinging rock musicals ever made. Most of them are deadly affairs—I’m looking at you, _Rocky Horror Picture Show_—calculated to appeal to “the kids.” So it’s no surprise that Mitchell’s 2006 _Shortbus_—not a musical but a joyous ode to the pleasures of human connection, sexual or otherwise—would have a similar freewheeling, celebratory spirit. The story begins with an adorable New York couple, Jamie and Jamie (they’re played by Paul Dawson and PJ DeBoy), who may have hit a rough patch. Dawson’s Jamie has suggested they open their relationship to include a third person. DeBoy’s Jamie isn’t so sure. So they visit a sex therapist, Sofia (Sook-Yin Lee), who confesses to having sexual problems of her own. During their first session, she blurts out that she’s “pre-orgasmic.” One of the darling Jamies, unable to comprehend what this might mean, innocently asks, “Does that mean you’re about to have one?” That joke captures the spirit of the movie: the _Shortbus_ of the title is an underground salon hosted by the chic, alluring bon vivant Justin Bond (now known as Justin Vivan Bond), where people get together to talk, hang out, and, if they’re so moved, have sex. The sex in _Shortbus_ is unsimulated, and many of the actors here were friends of Mitchell’s: they rehearsed on-and-off for more than two years, which helps explain the movie’s breezy, improvisatory feel. But what’s most striking about _Shortbus_ is its overall sweetness. It’s a film that’s more about talking, as well as communicating through nonverbal means, than it is about sex. Openhearted and welcoming rather than lecturing and judgmental, it now feels like a relic from a lost time. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/50-most-underappreciated-movies/7353557/shortbus/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/50-most-underappreciated-movies/7353557/shortbus/"},"headline":"Shortbus","datePublished":"2026-02-04T12:52:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T01:04:58.261Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/50-most-underappreciated-movies/7353557/shortbus/","keywords":["movies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3205046876f67318/6998cd4b7323af76242bd318/Underappreciated-Movies-Shortbus.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Stephanie Zacharek","jobTitle":"Film Critic","url":"https://time.com/author/stephanie-zacharek/"}],"creator":"Stephanie Zacharek","articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3205046876f67318/6998cd4b7323af76242bd318/Underappreciated-Movies-Shortbus.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/50-most-underappreciated-movies/7353557/shortbus/","name":"Shortbus"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Most Underappreciated Movies of the 21st Century","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/2Xfr54wO/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2026-02-04T12:20:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/2Xfr54wO.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/50-most-underappreciated-movies/7353557/shortbus/","duration":"PT1M22S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/50-most-underappreciated-movies/7353557/shortbus/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```