ORGAZMO A film review by Matt Williams
RATING: * out of * * * *
Orgazmo is a movie that feels like one of those "before they were famous" photos. Made by the creators of South Park, before that show ever hit the air, this spoof of "adult" films and kung-fu movies shows some comic potential, but it just misses the mark.
Elder Joe Young (Trey Parker) is the stereotypical clean-cut Mormon, doing his mission work on the seedy side of L.A. One day, he has the misfortune to accidentally interrupt the shooting of a porno film. The director, Maxxx Orbison (Michael Dean Jacobs), sics his goons upon Joe. But when Joe defends himself with some impressive kung-fu moves, Maxxx hires him on the spot.
Now, Joe has a few moral issues with starring in a pornographic film. But, since Joe desperately needs the money for his upcoming marriage to his sweet fiancee Lisa (Robyn Lynne Raab), he is able to look past the ethics (besides, it's only acting). And so, Joe becomes the porn star, Captain Orgazmo.
However, things begin to get strange when his real life identity and his alter ego start to converge. Ben (Dian Bachar), Captain Orgazmo's sidekick Choda-Boy, is a closet genius, inventing all sorts of techno-gadgets. When a group of thugs threaten Ben's friend G-Fresh (Masao "Maki" San), Joe and Ben must become Captain Orgazmo and Choda-Boy to thwart the evildoers and their evil scheme.
If all this sounds rather odd, and in poor taste, well, it is. This IS from the makers of South Park, after all. However, few of the jokes here seem inspired...most are blatantly obvious, and only a few are funny.
Surprisingly, the best parts of the film are when it is spoofing the kung fu genre, rather than its outlandish soft porn. Simple gags, such as Ben's mystical "hamster-style" martial arts provide much of the film's humor.
But, unfortunately, it's not enough to support the whole film. Even with a relatively short running time, the film quickly gets repetitive. This one might make a good midnight movie on cable...but it's not worth the effort at your local movie theater.
Copyright 1998 Matt Williams
- Matt Williams (matt@cinematter.com) Reviewer for Cinematter: http://www.cinematter.com Home of over 650 reviews, and information on nearly 700 upcoming releases
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews