Orgazmo Review
by "Nathaniel R. Atcheson" (nate AT pyramid DOT net)November 18th, 1998
Orgazmo (1998)
Director: Trey Parker
Cast: Trey Parker, Dian Bachar, Robyn Lynne Raab, Michael Dean Jacobs, Ron Jeremy, Andrew Kemler, Juli Ashton
Screenplay: Trey Parker,
Producers: Fran Rubel Kuzui, Jason McHugh, Matt Stone Runtime: 94 min.
US Distribution: October
Rated NC-17: language, sex-related themes
By Nathaniel R. Atcheson ([email protected])
Orgazmo, a gleefully insulting and intentionally awful porn satire, centers around an upstanding Mormon lad named Joe Young. Created by and starring Trey Parker, the film explains the unlikely events leading to Joe's stardom in a pornographic film. It all begins one day as he's going door-do-door in Los Angeles; he knocks on a door and interrupts progress on a porn flick. After Joe beats up a bunch of henchmen (he kicks butt for the Lord), the film's director, Maxxx Orbison (Michael Dean Jacobs) decides that Joe is perfect for the starring role in his film (which, incidentally, is also called Orgazmo).
Because he needs money to marry his fiancée, Lisa (Robyn Lynn Raab), Joe reluctantly accepts the job. Orbison guarantees that Joe's innocence is preserved by enlisting a "stunt cock" for the penetration shots, and by allowing him to skimp on the expletives littered in the dialogue. Soon, however, it turns out that Orbison is into dirty work, and all he wants is money. With the help of his co-star and friend, Choda Boy (Dian Bachar), Joe ultimately becomes a real superhero and attempts to stop the evil doings of Orbison.
If you take Orgazmo seriously, you might think it's the worst film of 1998. I've read reviews that describe it as poorly-made and incompetent, but those critics are simply missing the point: Orgazmo is *intentionally* bad. The wooden acting is there for a reason. The cheesy fight scenes serve a purpose. The dialogue is laughable because it needs to be. Besides, the setup gives everything away -- does Parker really expect us to take seriously the story of a Mormon porn star? Of course he doesn't, and that's why the film is often successful: it is so completely bad that we're *never* inclined to take it seriously.
For the first hour, Orgazmo is fresh and entertaining. The way Parker parodies pornographic films is skillfully done: porn flicks are known for their awful acting and pointless storylines, and Parker, going over-the-top with awful acting and pointless storylines, manages to make a lot of lively fun out of the satire. The film opens with a brilliant musical number (I'd repeat the lyrics, but this is a family-oriented site). Many of the sequences illicit big belly laughs -- the subplot with a ghetto sushi-chef is terrific, and the scene in which an old lady curses at the Mormons is hilarious.
Orgazmo is a lot smarter than it seems. It makes a pretty bold attack on the Mormon belief system; it also steers successfully away from self-satire by avoiding exploitation of sex (all we get to see are a few naked breasts and a plethora of dildos). Most of the acting is deviously clever; Parker is really funny (he even showed talent in BASEketball) and perfect for the lead. The other performances work because the performers obviously know that they're overacting. Bachar, who was also in BASEketball, is great in a bad sort of way, while Raab, as the fiancée, is perfectly perky. The only performance that doesn't work is Jacobs' Orbison; he's often difficult to watch, and he's not very funny.
The problem with Orgazmo is that it recycles its own jokes in the final half hour, and the result is a picture that overstays its welcome. Parker starts off with a lot of original ideas, but keeps giving them to us as if they're new. So, by the time Joe and Choda Boy are infiltrating Orbison's fortress, the story is no longer funny and strikes us mostly as really silly. Even so, I enjoyed Orgazmo -- Parker has proven to me that he has an innovative mind when it comes to comedy. Any film so cheerfully bad should be admired on some level, but the humor in Orgazmo surpasses its own badness.
>From 0-10: 6
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