A Good Old Fashioned Orgy (2011)

Directed by: Alex Gregory, Peter Huyck | 99 minutes | comedy | Actors: Jason Sudeikis, Leslie Bibb, Lake Bell, Michelle Borth, Nick Kroll, Tyler Labine, Angela Sarafyan, Lindsay Sloane, Martin Starr, Rhys Coiro, Will Forte, Kelly Haas, Michael Harding, Jan Harrelson, Bob Hungerford, Peter Huyck, Reiko Kaneshiro, David Koechner, Andrea Powell, Lucy Punch, Dee Dee Rescher, Lin Shaye, Jon Stafford, Rick Warner, Nick Weber, Barbara Weetman

The name of the film makes no bones about it. ‘A Good Old Fashioned Orgy’ is indeed about… an orgy. When the father of protagonist Eric (Jason Sudeikis) decides to sell his holiday home where Eric and his friends organize smashing parties in the summer, there is a smashing prom. And what better way to do this than by having an orgy with your seven best friends? According to the directors of ‘A Good Old Fashioned Orgy’, Alex Gregory and Peter Huyck, this wafer-thin story is a good basis for making this comedy.

This film does not have to rely on its originality. This is apparent from the composition of the group of friends, which includes the obligatory characters for a comedy. Eric is clearly the leader of the bunch and there is also room for the fat, funny McCrudden (Tyler Labine). Of course there must also be a nerd in it and for this the choice fell on Adam (Nick Kroll). The same goes for the ladies, we’ve got the handsome Allison and Sue (Lake Bell and Michelle Borth) complemented by the insecure, shy Willow (Angela Sarafyan). It’s all very perfunctory and the only original and funny character, the gay man Duquez (Martin Starr), is unfortunately deleted from the story halfway through the film.

There is no shortage of experience in making comedies in the cast. Jason Sudeikis already played in ‘Hall Pass’ and ‘Horrible Bosses’ in 2011 (also two mediocre comedies, by the way) and we saw Tyler Labine in ‘Tucker and Dale vs Evil’, among others. Unfortunately, this experience does not lead to a successful comedy. For the jokes, quantity has clearly been chosen over quality. Tyler Labine, in particular, tries to turn every sentence into something funny. Although this sometimes leads to a nice joke (if you try often enough, sooner or later you will find a good joke), the many lame, adolescent (sex) jokes usually don’t make you very happy. It’s all of the well-known ‘American Pie’ level. In addition, the story is extremely predictable and the film actually does nothing more than indulge in the orgy. The characters themselves are also barely explored and do what they have to do, nothing more and nothing less.

What remains is the great climax of the film, the orgy itself. Unfortunately, there is no real climax. The orgy feels more awkward and a little embarrassing than these scenes are actually fun. In addition, with a playing time of fifteen minutes, it also lasts far too long, after five minutes you have seen it. At this point you’ve already had enough silly sex jokes thrown at you in the previous hour, so it’s not fun anymore. In that respect it is no more than a logical conclusion to an otherwise downright mediocre, weak comedy. It’s a bit simple to score what the makers are trying to do with ‘A Good Old Fashioned Orgy’. Maybe just nice enough for an evening of mindless entertainment, but you really don’t have to expect more than that from this film.