Stop the R-rated movie carousel, I wanna get off.
“A Good Old Fashioned Orgy” caps a summer of raunch – a season brimming with baby diarrhea, dry humping and other comic morsels for our inner 13-year-old.
We may have loved our “Horrible Bosses” and found that “Bad Teacher” amusing, but “Orgy” isn’t as naughty – or funny – as it’s desperately trying to be.
Eric (Jason Sudeikis) is renowned for the killer parties he throws at his dad’s estate in the Hamptons. But the good times are about to end. Dear old Dad (Don Johnson in a cameo you’ll wish was extended) is putting the house on the market, meaning no more blowout bashes.
So Eric wants to throw one last party before the new owners move in. But it has to be a classic, a party to top all the rest. Why not invite his closest friends for an orgy?
Only the hormonally unchecked McCrudden (Tyler Labine in the de facto Jack Black role) thinks it’s a swell idea. The rest of his pals look at Eric aghast. But they soon come around to his way of thinking. The goody two shoes girl (Lindsay Sloane) just dropped a wheelbarrow of weight and wants in to reclaim her sexuality. The toned and tan Sue (Michelle Borth) thinks it’s the last chance to show Eric she likes him more than as a friend – because orgies are ideal for letting someone know you really care.
Wannabe rock star guy (Martin Starr) thinks it will burnish his rebel credentials. And the uptight counselor (Lake Bell) just wants to get back at her ex-beau.
Meanwhile, Eric is romancing the real estate agent (Leslie Bibb) to make sure the house doesn’t sell before the orgy commences.
“Orgy” arrives with low intentions, a cast that seems a mite too old for such silliness and a complete lack of understanding regarding the complexities of sex. The biggest grossout moment comes when McCrudden flirts with a girl still in high school. Yuck. But, hey, it’s an R-rated comedy, so let’s not be too rough on it.
Better to smack it for its dearth of bona fide laughs.
When the most repressed member of the group (Nick Kroll) resists the orgy idea because he might contract the papilloma virus, someone says, “isn’t that a Steve McQueen movie?” That’s about as inspired as the film gets.
Sudeikis, suddenly the busiest “Saturday Night Live” performer around, channels the ’80s version of Chevy Chase as the prankster who can woo the ladies with a practiced smirk. But the material fails Sudeikis over and again, and he can’t duplicate Chase’s knack for turning a bland punch line into a quotable riff.
Can you hear the words “ball bearings” and suppress a smile?
The “Orgy” in question doesn’t pull many sexual punches, even if the nudity is arranged delicately enough so as not to ruffle our collective feathers. Even here we wait … and wait … for a big laugh that never arrives.
“A Good Old Fashioned Orgy” is just a garden variety R-rated comedy that’s never as shocking or clever as its title.
(Photo: Leslie Bibb and Jason Sudeikis crack wise in the new comedy “A Good Old Fashioned Orgy.” Samuel Goldwyn Films)
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
What is it with Jason Sudeikis and the raunchy comedy? So far this year I’ve seen him in Hall Pass, Horrible Bosses and A Good Old Fashioned Orgy. The only one I found at least somewhat funny was Horrible Bosses. A Good Old Fashioned Orgy is trying hard to be something that it isn’t and Hall Pass tried real hard to be a laugh out comedy but it didn’t quite get there. Let’s hope his next film is at least better than the three that I’ve seen so far and at least is funnier. I hope!
===Spoiler Alert===
Just tell me if Jason Sudeikis beds Leslie Bibb at the end. Because if he doesn’t this film isn’t even worth a consideration, let alone a look.