A GOOD OLD-FASHIONED ORGY opens tomorrow, Friday September 2nd, only at the Regal Waterford Lakes Cinema [Click here for showtimes].
Considering Jason Sudeikis' last movie was one of the summer's big success stories ($114m and rising!), you'd thing there'd be more promotion for his latest R-rated comedy. But this one hasn't had much exposure - despite the attention-seeking title. And it's being buried on a small number of screens, only one of which is in town. As you might expect from a film with "Orgy" in its title, minor things like "character development", "believable inter-personal relationships" and "consistent and believable plot" are secondary to jokes, boobs, and jokes about boobs, all of which are on plentiful display.
There are a decent amount of chuckles - if not laughs - which isn't a surprise given the number of funny people in the cast. There's Nick Kroll (The League), Will Forte (ex-SNL), Lake Bell (Children's Hospital) and Martin Starr (Party Down), among others. Forte, as ever, is game for just about anything, and is funny in a supporting role. But despite the odd moment, there really isn't anything here that elevates this thing above the level of "Maybe a Redbox with your buddies", I'm afraid.
These characters are all supposed to be longtime best friends, who have been going to the same holiday home in the Hamptons many times a year for many years. Fine. But the first twenty minutes of the film offers no reason, other than a shared high school, why these people should possibly be friends. There's the stuffy lawyer (Kroll), the stuffy law student (Starr), the prudish schoolteacher (Lindsay Sloane) and the uptight psychiatrist (Bell). Professionals, all. But why are those guys best buds with man-boys, played by Sudeikis and, in the Jack Black-esque role,Tyler Labine, who has some good lines as the slob best-friend. (There are a couple of other women too, but they are relatively undefined). Their collective friendship seems pretty inexplicable. The reason they throw the titular orgy doesn't really make much sense. The lead character's romance subplot doesn't really hold together.
I hate being so nit-picky about a film that's so clearly just about making you laugh, but those things really irritated me. And no amount of kinky real estate agents or Kama Sutra costumes can make up for that.
