Monday, Apr. 25, 2011

Orgazmo (1997 Movie)

The same year South Park went on Comedy Central, Trey Parker and Matt Stone released their feature film about a Mormon missionary in Los Angeles who accidentally becomes a porn star. Elder Joe Young (Parker) stumbles onto the set of XXX-film director Maxxx Orbison (Michael Dean Jacobs), whose previous works include Schindler's Fist. Needing big cash so he can marry his equally pure fiancée Lisa (Robyn Lynne) in the Salt Lake City Temple, Joe reluctantly agrees to play the superhero Orgazmo, as long as there's a stunt man for the sex scenes. Joe reads from the Book of Mormon — the real one, not the script for Matt and Trey's Broadway show — while a porn actress discusses ... well, let's say she has plural marriages, simultaneously. To Joe's chagrin, the movie becomes a worldwide hit and even makes the cover of TIME. Lisa finds out, is furious and then has her own revelation: "Oh, Joe, it is so hard to know what Heavenly Father wants from us or what he has in mind. This whole thing is just too gosh-darned wacky to be coinkidink. Maybe this is what Heavenly Father has intended for you."

The NC-17-rated movie boasts no actual pornography but plenty of porn stars, including Ron Jeremy and Chasey Lain. Irredeemably sophomoric, even freshmanic, Orgazmo is a cheerful parable about how innocence can blunder into strange and dangerous territory and, with the help of Heavenly Father and some outrageous plot twists, conquer all. In other words, it's The Book of Mormon without the songs.