Sunday, December 28, 2014

‘A Good Old Fashioned Orgy’ an unlikely orgy movie for summer’s end

About the movie
A Good Old Fashioned Orgy
MPAA rating:
for pervasive strong sexual content, graphic nudity and language
Running time:
Release date:
Directed by:
Alex Gregory; Peter Huyck

EAST IS EAST, West is West, and never the twain shall meet.

Same goes for orgy people and "regular" people, according to "Seinfeld."


According to Jerry's theory, there are people who are naturally orgy people, and then there are the one-at-a-timers, and there's really not a lot of overlap.

I'd say that's probably true, so I wasn't buying the premise of "A Good Old Fashioned Orgy" - a group of one-at-a-timers, also friends, decides to close out their summer Hamptons party series (there's a redneck bash with lawn-tractor racing) with group sex.

I wasn't buying it, and also I didn't want to see Jason Sudeikis naked. That goes double for Nick Kroll, and some chubby guy named Tyler Labine, who has the Jack Black concession here.

I know a few women who haven't been to a Hollywood comedy since they made Katherine Heigl sleep with Seth Rogen. "Orgy" isn't going to bring them back to theaters.

Sudeikis plays Eric, a sort of shiftless, underemployed dude whose life mostly revolves around summer weekends, inviting lifelong friends to hang out with him at his dad's beach house.

Now dad (Don Johnson) is selling, so Eric wants to close the summer and the house with the most outside-the-envelope party he can think of.

He settles on the idea of the orgy, and much time is expended convincing the fence-sitters (Lake Bell, Lindsay Sloane) to join in the fun. Lucy Punch and Will Forte play a married couple excluded from the plan.

"Old Fashioned" occupies the same general territory as "Humpday" and "Hall Pass," but actually follows through on its threat, and gets points for that. Although in general the orgy looks about half as fun as the redneck party.


Gary Thompson Daily News Film Critic
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