Movie Review: A Good Old Fashioned Orgy

With such a titillating title, one could rightly assume an outrageous film, right? You would think so, yes. That begs the question, what exactly happened here? In my eyes, the movie was just a concept without any actual thought given to its execute. Much like this review, it doesn't really care how it turns out, it just lays there hoping that whatever it happens to do you will like. We all know that sort of thing just doesn't flu and isn't entertaining for anyone. Much like A Good Old Fashioned Orgy.



Jason Sudeikis leads the ensemble cast through this supposed comedy. Sudeikis is Eric, a Manhattan office worker who loves getting away with his old high school friends for weekend getaways at his summer home in the Hamptons where they throw wild theme parties. Following the White Trash Bash, Eric's father, played by Don Johnson in a single scene, shows up and announces that he is selling the house. This turn of events leaves Eric stunned, how will he throw these parties now? Of course, there is no mention of where the money is coming from, but I guess that doesn't really matter in the big picture of things.

Eric and closest pal Mike (Tyler Labine) decide the only way to close out the summer and their years of hanging at the summer home is with a quiet, intimate orgy with their closest friends. The bulk of the middle of the film deals with their research into how to have an orgy and convincing all of the desired players to participate in said event. There are some faux protests, but we all know that they will all come around in the end. The last third of the film is the payoff for all of the planning. They certainly don't cheat on the event, but it ends up being handled so nonchalantly that it might as well not have happened.

I don't know what it is about this thing, but it just doesn't work. It is almost like the creative team shied away from making the comedy funny and instead tried to come up with some annoying cathartic moment for each of the players involved. They avoid the snappy one lines like the plague. There is also a disturbing lack of consequence. Everything just sort of happens and no one seems to really care about the group dynamic. It is kind of annoying how even everything is played.

The outrageousness suggested by the title appears to have been neutered in is execution. On top of the story issues, I pretty much hate all of the characters. I do not exactly need to like any of them, but this group of thirty-somethings are so self centered and obnoxious that I could no bring myself to care about any of their problems, and believe me, they all have something to go through to be resolved in the orgy. It is the comedic equivalent of The Informers.

I actually wanted to like it. I has a good cast, it is just a terrible, cold, and heartless story. It is a movie that had the potential of being something wild, crazy, and touching, in a Judd Apatow sort of way. Instead it sis here like a lump expecting you to like it for doing nothing.

Well, thank you for nothing. It is not like I had particularly high hopes for it, but there is no denying the cast could have made it good. I mean you have Jason Sudeikis, Tyler Labine, Leslie Bibb, Martin Starr, Will Forte, Lucy Punch, David Koechner, and Don Johnson! Some of them are only used for a single scene! Wasted potential is all over this thing. Maybe they should have called it A Good Old Fashioned Waste of Time.

Not Recommended.