It's got sex, lots of sex. In fact, the whole movie is about sex and, from the start, was conceived to test boundaries. But as John Cameron Mitchell's sexual opus "Shortbus" readies to roll into movie theaters next week, it hasn't hit any speed bumps. The media might have reflexively dubbed the movie controversial -- Google the words "controversial" and "Shortbus" and 46,500 references appear -- but the real surprise surrounding the movie is that it hasn't provoked any genuine controversy at all.

Since ThinkFilm, its distributor, is not an MPAA signatory, the ground-breaking movie is being released without a rating, but even that potential stigma hasn't prevented it from buying advertising or securing theater bookings.

"We've booked the film in the top 40 major markets without incident or obstacle," ThinkFilm's head of U.S. theatrical Mark Urman said. "It's been screened everywhere: press screenings, trade screenings. Everyone knows what the film is. It's fair to say that the horses have not been frightened."

Three years in development, "Shortbus" is Mitchell's self-proclaimed sex project for which he auditioned actors, professional and nonprofessional, who were willing to tell stories about their sexual experiences. He turned some of those stories into the script, which revolves around a group of young New Yorkers who navigate the intersections between sex and love in and around an underground salon called Shortbus. Mitchell, the director of "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," asked a number of the actors to trust him as he filmed them in actual sexual encounters that figure in the movie's story line.

In May, the film bowed at the Festival de Cannes, where it was met with a warm reception. The first wave of reviews on RottenTomatoes.com was running 56% positive Thursday. ThinkFilm will open the film exclusively Wednesday in New York before expanding to Los Angeles and San Francisco on Oct. 6.

Urman said the film will primarily play in Landmark theaters. "The company has been a great fan of the film since Cannes. They are our full partners on a national basis," Urman said. "We're only choosing to not play Landmark theaters where there is a better theater geographically."

Landmark's head film buyer Ted Mundorff agreed that he was sold on the film at Cannes. "It was the best film I saw in Cannes and a perfect fit for Landmark," he said. "Our customers certainly know John Cameron Mitchell, and I think this will be the high point of his career."

To reach out to Mitchell's more cutting-edge fans while not alienating mainstream media outlets in the process, ThinkFilm devised a dual track campaign. For example, it created two posters. The one intended for general audiences shows the smiling cast, clothed, sprawled on the ground together -- Internet commentators have compared it to happy, shiny posters for such TV series as "One Tree Hill" and "Beverly Hills, 90210."

A second piece of key art, designed for use in alternative weeklies and gay publications, takes a more provocative pose, with the same cast shot framed by a phallic outline.

Additionally, the indie film company created three trailers: a teaser, a theatrical trailer in which Mitchell describes the back story of how the film came together; and an uncensored version, which includes brief glimpses of the naked couplings. And to ensure it doesn't trigger any unintended outrage, ThinkFilm plans to keep the film out of traditional multiplexes where it could offend anyone who encountered it unawares.

While the distributor isn't hiding the film's subject matter, it isn't flaunting it, either. And, for the moment at least, that appears to have inoculated it against controversy.

"It is surprising to me that (that there's been no controversy). We have over 20 runs on the film as it rolls out across the country," Mundorff said. "The Southern locations generally may be the theaters where community groups become more active. But we haven't had any push back at all from any community at this point."

"Shortbus" isn't the first serious-minded film to attempt to put real sex onscreen. French director Catherine Breillat, with an assist from Italian porn star Rocco Siffredi, ventured into explicit filmmaking in 1999's "Romance," while British director Michael Winterbottom took two actors through a series of intimate encounters in 2004's "9 Songs." But those films, playing to art house audiences, flew below the cultural radar -- while "Romance" grossed $1.3 million domestically, "9 Songs" had to settle for only $67,000.

Mitchell, on the other hand, is likely to garner a good deal more attention. A denizen of New York's East Village scene, he might not be a household name. But thanks to "Hedwig," which earned a sizable cult following -- first as a stage show, then as a film that grossed $3.1 million domestically, and then on video -- Mitchell has developed an ardent fan base, which he is courting with "Shortbus." And, so far, nobody is raising any objections.