Orgazmo

Orgazmo is a 1997 American sex comedy superhero film written, directed and edited by Trey Parker and produced by Matt Stone, Jason McHugh, and Fran Rubel Kuzui. It stars Parker, Stone, Dian Bachar, Robyn Lynne, and Michael Dean Jacobs. The plot follows Joe Young (Parker), a devout Mormon missionary who, in an effort to pay for his and his fiancée's dream wedding and home, hesitantly participates acting in a pornographic film for an abusive porn director. Orgazmo is Parker and Stone's second film, following 1993's Cannibal! The Musical.

For the 1969 Italian film, see Orgasmo.

Orgazmo
Theatrical release poster
Directed byTrey Parker
Produced by
Written byTrey Parker
Starring
  • Trey Parker
  • Matt Stone
  • Dian Bachar
  • Robyn Lynne
  • Michael Dean Jacobs
Music byPaul Robb
CinematographyKenny Gioseffi
Edited by
  • Michael R. Miller
  • Trey Parker
Production
companies
Distributed byRogue Pictures
(PolyGram Filmed Entertainment)
(Universal Pictures)
Release date
  • September 6, 1997 (September 6, 1997)
Running time
94 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$602,302[2]

Plot

Everyman Mormon missionary Joseph Young, assigned with his mission partner to Los Angeles, finds the city to be a hostile and unenthusiastic place for their work. The problems worsen when they knock on the door of sleazy porn director Maxxx Orbison and several security guards are sent to dispose of them. Joe defeats all of them singlehandedly with a variety of martial arts skills. Impressed by his performance and bored of his current project's lead actor, Orbison attempts to hire Joe to be the title character and lead of his pornographic superhero film, Orgazmo. Joe is conflicted because of his beliefs, but the salary offered would pay for a wedding in the temple in Utah where his fiancée Lisa has expressed a strong desire to wed. Joe reluctantly accepts despite being given a sign from God.

Joe finds the crew of the film intimidating but manages to befriend co-star Ben Chapleski, a technical genius and graduate from MIT who works in the pornographic industry to satiate his overactive libido. He plays Orgazmo's sidekick Choda Boy, who assists Orgazmo with specially designed sex toys, including Orgazmo's signature weapon, the Orgazmorator, a ray gun that forces orgasm upon whomever it is fired. Ben invites Joe to his home later on and shows Joe a real, working Orgazmorator Ben has built, and he and Joe spend an evening using it on unsuspecting citizens for amusement.

At a sushi bar owned by Ben's Japanese friend G-Fresh, the two witness a group of thugs vandalizing the bar in an attempt to force out G-Fresh so their dance club next door can expand. Later on, when Ben and Joe are not present, G-Fresh is coerced to leave. Upon finding this out, Joe and Ben don costumes and use their film props and the Orgazmorator to sneak into the club and steal back the contract G-Fresh was forced to sign. Joe is agitated after nearly being shot in the head but Ben is excited by finally getting to be a real superhero.

Orgazmo becomes an amazing success, both financially and critically, and Orbison withholds Joe's paycheck to keep him in town long enough to announce a sequel, and asks Joe to reprise his role. Tempted with a doubled salary, Joe is confronted by his fiancée who has found out what he has been doing and leaves him. Facing production difficulties and harassment from Orbison's unsympathetic nephew A-Cup, Joe tries to back out of the project but Orbison refuses. When Joe stands up to him, Orbison has Lisa kidnapped to force Joe into agreement. When Ben finds out the thugs who assaulted G-Fresh are also working for Orbison, he joins Joe in storming Orbison's mansion before Lisa can be forced to perform in one of Orbison's films.

Fighting through Orbison's group of henchmen, Joe and Ben meet their match in A-Cup. Joe encourages Ben to unleash his long-repressed Hamster Style discipline of martial arts, allowing Ben to beat A-Cup. After repairing his damaged Orgazmorator, Joe repeatedly shoots Orbison with it, incapacitating him and capturing all the henchmen. Ben blows up the mansion with another device, the "Cock Rocket", destroying Orbison's base of operations. Joe and Lisa reconcile and she gives him her blessing to remain in Los Angeles and continue being a hero alongside Ben.

As the film ends, Orbison is seen in a doctor's office being told that after so many orgasms in a row, his testicles have swollen to the size of oranges and that surgical removal is the only option. A now insane Orbison declares revenge on Orgazmo as he will now be the personification of A-Cup's character and Orgazmo's nemesis who is immune to the Orgazmorator: Neutered Man.

Cast

Release

Orgazmo premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 1997.[3] The Motion Picture Association of America gave the film an NC-17 rating, resulting in a very limited release in the US.[4] There is an 'Unrated' version that was released on the 2-sided DVD set along with the theatrical version; it runs two minutes shorter than the original 94-minute release. The film was released via Blu-ray on May 12, 2015. This includes both versions of the film and all the features from the DVD.

Critical reception

The review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 48%, with an average rating of 4.96/10, based on 33 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads: "More juvenile than provocative, Orgazmo may have enough good-natured raunch to satisfy writer-director Trey Parker's fans, but its satire is too soft to compete with the South Park co-creator's best work."[5] The film has a score of 48 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 17 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[6] Roger Ebert gave the film half a star out of four, arguing that Orgazmo had little of the clever wit Parker and Stone brought to South Park, and furthermore describing the film as "callow, gauche, obvious and awkward, and designed to appeal to those with similar qualities".[7]

Orgazmo has been deemed a cult film,[8] mostly by fans of South Park, which creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone subsequently released to critical acclaim.[9] Its reception and rating by the MPAA is discussed in the 2006 documentary This Film Is Not Yet Rated.

gollark: Also regulatory capture. That is highly bees.
gollark: Bye.
gollark: Probably should do something about monopolies and land allocation I guess.
gollark: Markets seem to work better than the alternatives, at least. Perhaps I'm just saying this because I live in a reasonably wealthy country and whatever, but you know.
gollark: Although yes, you probably can't have everyone run large customer facing businesses.

See also
  • Portrayals of Mormons in popular media

References
  1. "ORGAZMO (18)". British Board of Film Classification. April 7, 1998. Retrieved June 19, 2013.
  2. "Orgazmo (1998)". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. November 26, 1998. Retrieved July 28, 2015.
  3. Hartl, John (October 23, 1998). "`Orgazmo': Porn Story Of Corrupted Innocence Fumbles, Is Repetitious". The Seattle Times. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  4. Cox, Dan (October 8, 1998). "MPAA: 'Orgazmo' stays NC-17". Variety. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  5. "Orgazmo". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
  6. "Orgazmo (1998)". Metacritic. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
  7. Ebert, Roger (October 23, 1998). "Orgazmo". Chicago Sun Times. Retrieved June 4, 2010.
  8. Robinson, Tasha (April 26, 2005). "Orgazmo: Unrated Special Edition". The A.V. Club. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
  9. Olson, Christopher J. 100 Greatest Cult Films. United States: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 34. ISBN 9781442208223.
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