Synopsis: The Emmy nominated writing team of Alex Gregory and Peter Huyck (âThe Larry Sandersâ Show,â âKing of the Hillâ) make their directorial debut with âA Good Old Fashioned Orgy.â The story, also penned by the pair, is the hilarious account of a group of early 30 something Manhattan-ites who decide to do the unthinkable to celebrate the end of their summer weekend jaunts in the Hamptons.
Release Date: September 2, 2011 MPAA Rating: PG-13
Genre(s): Comedy
Film Review
Every summer in the Hamptons there is one thing to look forward to, an epic party thrown by Eric (Jason Sudekis) and his group of close friends. This year it was the “White Trash Party”, where eating bean dip out of toilet is completely acceptable, if not avoided. The final bash of the summer, on Labor Day Weekend, is about to change for this group of friends, as Eric’s father has decided to sell the Hampton’s house–as soon as possible. This place of memories for Eric, Mike, Adam, Doug, Alison, Sue, and Laura is about to become a memory. In order to pay tribute to the house, and the parties that have come before, Eric must come up with a theme for the final party that will blow all of the rest of them away. His idea is surely one no one expected, an orgy amongst just his closest friends, and in Doug’s case his girlfriend as well, Willow (Angela Sarafyan).
The difficulty for Eric is of course getting his friends to agree to the orgy since they are all just friends and no one wants to ruin this friendship by having sex. This is where A Good Old Fashioned Orgy gets a little real, while maintaining the humor along the way because this is a funny predicament for a group of people to get themselves into. Each person finds a reason to participate in the end; be it for self esteem, to be like a rock star, to get over a bad break-up, or even to do what never was done in the past so you can move on. The “orgy” then becomes a metaphor for the greater issues each person possesses, which makes it a whole lot better that simply wanting to do it for the sake of having sex with numerous people. And you have to give credit to screenwriters Alex Gregory and Peter Huyck for not succumbing to the all out raunchiness that could have occurred given the premise. As well as their mature dealings with the fact that having sex with multiple people can have its consequences–an STD check at the local clinic puts everyones minds at ease, especially the germaphobe Nick.
A Good Old Fashioned Orgy is not a great comedy, but it does have its moments where a tiny piece of genius in comedic writing, and performance shines through. For the most part it is worth watching just to see the orgy actually occur because yes, while it would seem likely for it to not happen, it does, and it is just as funny, outlandish, and wholly wrong on the so many levels you would expect and desire.
Let’s hear it for the boys! In A Good Old Fashioned Orgy there are equal parts male characters as there are female characters. But it is the boys that radiate the chemistry, making the film watchable, funny, and often times a little too true to the workings of the male friendship. Jason Sudekis’ Eric and Tyler Labine’s Mike share the most screen time together of the boys and definitely portray a tad of the homoerotic tendencies towards one another–and a key moment in the film will bring this tension to the forefront. The two of them together, one more soft-spoken and sarcastic, the other in-your-face raunchy, make for a pleasing pair of comedic characters. Rounding out the men is the uptight and phobic Adam (Nick Kroll), Martin Starr of “Party Down” as the would-be musician Doug who is far too insecure considering his “attribute”, and Glen (Will Forte) in a side-note performance as the only married member of the bunch but memorable in his small capacity nonetheless.
When it comes to the women the reality that these females have been friends practically their entire lives is completely lost on the viewer. Alison (Lake Bell), Sue (Michelle Borth), and Laura’s (Lindsay Sloane) conversations about dieting, long-held crushes, and current bad relationships are altogether forced heart-to-hearts with quite a bit of awkward pauses between lines, leaving the naturalness of such a conversation impossible. When the women and the men interact, as is often, things fare better as an altogether working unit of an ensemble character film but not enough to make anyone believe these people actually spend a great deal of time together. When the orgy hits, there is not very much talking amongst the group, which is a relief so the comedic endeavors of all involved can shine through in the action, not the back-and-forth dialogue.
There is one scene in particular that can be marked as the most hilarious in A Good Old Fashioned Orgy and it is not the time spent during the orgy. It comes long before everyone agrees, and plans are set in motion. Eric gives a speech to his friends as to why they need to have an orgy. He states that their generation got screwed in terms of sexual liberation; he calls them the “lamest generation.” Being in their 30s this would mean children born from the free-love generation. He states how the spread of the AIDS virus (not a funny subject but made so during this speech and without being offensive) made their generation afraid of having sex. This left them without the free-wheeling notions of having sex with lots of people without a care in the world for the pure pleasure of doing so at a young age. He goes on to point out that the current generation is all about having sex, or fellatio, or whatever. Adding fuel to this is a very funny rundown of the use of colored bracelets girls use to mark what they have done, and what they will do with you. Eric’s entire monologue makes you laugh, especially if you are one of their generation, for the genuine honesty buried deep inside its non-pc delivery.
The above is not the only funny part about the film. It has many a great one-liner, scenes in a sex club that are incredibly wrong but oh so funny, as well as an unbelievable showcasing of all of the characters watching “game tapes” in order to prepare for the orgy. This is not intelligent humor, nor is it crass and stupid. It’s simply funny to watch, and when the orgy begins all sorts of humorous things happen. This is an amateur orgy after all and well, let’s say no one is versed in the methods of orginess.
Cast and Crew
- Director(s): Alex Gregory
- Producer(s): Alex GregoryPeter Huyck
- Screenwriter(s): Lucy Punch (Kate)Jason Sudeikis (Eric)Leslie Bibb (Kelly)
- Story: Lake Bell (Alison Cohen)
- Cast: Don Johnson (Jerry)Lindsay Sloane (Laura)Tyler Labine (Mike McCrudden) Martin Starr (Doug)Lin Shaye (Dody Henderson)Rhys Coiro (Marcus)Nick Kroll (Adam)Anita Brandt-BurgoyneJohn Thomas
- Editor(s):
- Cinematographer: Jon Sadoff
- Production Designer(s):
- Costume Designer:
- Casting Director(s):
- Music Score:
- Music Performed By:
- Country Of Origin: USA