Dir. Stephen Surjik, UK, 2007, 90 mins
Cast: Tom
Riley, Tom Burke, Carmen Electra, Michelle Ryan
Review by Carol Allen
A little British film about two film students
making a porn movie doesn't - it must be admitted - sound
a promising prospect. However, in many ways this is a very
pleasant surprise. It is a British attempt at the gross out
comedy style of American Pie and There's Something About
Mary, made with considerable style and discretion and an
English accent.
Riley and Burke play aspiring film
makers Joe and Baggy, students at Leatherhead University,
who are frustrated by the arty approach of their tutor
Mr Dulberg (Mackenzie Crook). Riley, the pushier one and
the producer of the team, drags the shy and awkward wannabe
director Baggy off to Soho to try to pitch their movie
project to Working Title films. After they're shown the
door, they stumble on porn movie producer Doug (Eddie Marsan),
who's looking for projects for the "adult entertainment market" but only if
they can get leading porn star Candy Fiveways (Electra) to
be in it. "No problem", says Joe. After several
false starts, he finally manages to get hold of Candy, who's
charmed by his youth and energy and agrees to take part,
while Baggy meanwhile is writing lashings of sex into his
sensitive love story "The Love Storm". They recruit
their crew from the university, down to earth waitress Lila
(Ryan) as their production manager, and set about making
the film on a no/low budget in Joe's parents suburban semi
in the gaps, when the parents (Philip Jackson and Felicity
Montagu) are out of the house.
This is both an amusing movie about
movie making and an innocent and charming comedy about
porn, which sounds like a contradiction in terms. Despite
the subject, there's no full frontal nudity and no explicit
sex apart from a largely off-screen and very funny scene
with Joe, Baggy and one of the crew trapped in the en suite
bathroom of the parents' bedroom, when Mum and Dad return
unexpectedly and decide to make love in a surprisingly
exotic manner. The most daring thing in it is a Thai would-be
porn actress auditioning for a role, who demonstrates something
interesting that can be done with ping pong balls - but
very discreetly shot. It's certainly rude but witty with
it and very nicely written with several "There's Something About Mary" moments,
such as when their male lead loses control of his equipment
on set. Joe and Baggy are engaging, funny and well contrasted,
Michelle Ryan is likeable as the waitress with a yen for
Joe, and Electra, best known for Baywatch, makes the most
of her assets and looks like she’s having fun. Even
the bad guys, who try to steal the finished film and take
credit for their own ends (Marsan and John Standing as the
posh guy who's "the money") aren’t that wicked – just
a bit sleazy.
Screenplays written by committee on
the American model can be a bit of a disaster, but in this
case the two producer/four writer team under the direction
of Surjik, who started his tv career on the quirky Canadian
series "The Kids in
the Hall", seem to have cracked it. Not everyone will
like this movie, but if you fancy gross out comedy with a
bit of finesse, it's worth giving it a whirl.
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