Finding Bliss

Finding Bliss is a fun, clever, entertaining, and very unique peek at the "porn" business as seen through the eyes of a wannabe filmmaker. The story centers on Jody, who gets awarded "most likely to succeed" at her film school graduation, only to find out that her dreams of success in Hollywood may turn out to be, well just that, dreams. Through a series of both fortunate and unfortunate events, Jody finds herself working at Grind Productions, a purveyor of adult fare looking to crossover into mainstream entertainment. Circumstances then convince Jody, and the audience, that this is her best hope. Jody will offer her creative abilities to co-write and edit Grind's new crossover features and then secretly utilize the Grind facilities, gear, and "actors", to create her breakout independent feature. Porn and mainstream start off like apples and oranges, but as the story progresses, the lines begin to blur and Jody finds herself rethinking some of her preconceived notions about the biz, both Porn and Mainstream. This is a romantic comedy, and steers clear of some of the darker elements as presented in Boogie Nights and Zac and Miri. The sexuality and language are for laughs and not for shock, making this a great date night movie for adults. LeeLee Sobieski is great as Jody, and shows that if given the part, she can carry a movie. Matt Davis as Jeff Drake, the award winning Porn director brings great depth to his character and his complex past and present. The chemistry between Leelee and Matt is obvious. Jamie Kennedy's talents are well suited for his character Dick (literally and figuratively), and the rest of the cast in no particular order Kristen Johnston, Donnamarie Recco, Mircea Monroe, PJ Byrne complement the heart and soul of the story. A few industry cameos appear to spice up the backgrounds, and of course Ron Jeremy is, well he is Ron Jeremy, and always fun to see on screen (fully clothed not to worry). Good technical credits in photography and sound, however there are moments when the picture's low budget are obvious. But overall, a fun ride worth taking.

I loved this film!!! The acting and directing were wonderful, especially for an independent film. The story has a heart,good values and lots of fun to watch!!! LeeLee Sobieski was terrific, she truly made me root for her! Matt Davis, Donna Marie Recco and Jamie Kennedy are true professionals- very good acting by all!!! It must have been difficult to make a film about the porn industry, while keeping it semi-clean, and still making it funny, yet showing the deep emotions of the characters. This film succeeded in achieving this goal.This film made me see the porn actors from a different perspective. Hope that this director makes more films. This is much better than many of the huge budget films out there now!!!

I rented this movie for a few reasons, neither of which was because I thought it would be good. One, the cover of the DVD said "It's Boogie Nights for women", the second was that it was about a recent film school graduate who gets to work in the porn industry. Why? Well, not only to pay the bills, but so that she can use the studio at night and edit suites to make her own damn movie. Hmm...interesting.

Well, the film is really a direct to DVD quality film. You can immediately tell, if you couldn't from the cast: Leelee Sobieski, Denise Richards, Jamie Kennedy, Kristen Johnston and then some porn stars. It was written and directed by a woman, so the film is her basically a woman's view of the porn industry. Which is why I should have known that the big nude scene would involve a male and not a female. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Jamie Kennedy shows off his junk. I was not impressed.

Obviously working as an editor on a porn movie during the day and directing your own movie at night will take a toll on you, it does for our lead character. She falls for a guy who is directing the porn, why? Well, because every script needs some kind of romantic bit to it to attract the audience. Otherwise, these two people would never hook up. The comedy is tame and hardly funny, the drama has been done to death before (her parents find out and disapprove) and she says some things that her friends find out about and then...boom, she has no friends.

The real reason this film fails is because not only does it lack humour, but it lacks heart. The film feels cold and dead inside, not a good sign.

Yes, Leelee is beautiful and captivating in the film. Even though she does no nudity, she is the sexiest woman in the movie. That is honestly all this thing delivers. Every other character is shallow and uninteresting. The entire plot is meandering and the movie honestly doesn't know what it wants to be. Basically, not fulfilling sexuality and not interesting in terms of story. A genuinely frustrating watch.

but just couldn't. Has a few zingy one-liners that keep it from being a complete dud, and a couple characters/actors that do well (the tech guy, the female head of the studio and "Jeff Drake", imo) but otherwise a yawner. Better movies in this genre (if it can be called that) are Zack and Miri Make a Porno and Orgazmo. (Also not really any nudity to speak of, so don't bother if you're thinking it's a cheap way to get some thrills).

Also has *nothing* meaningful to do with a woman getting hired to make pr0n from a female perspective or a (male) director trying to make classy pr0n (at least to me). The former never gets beyond "women want an emotional connection during sex" while the latter consists of "maybe we won't just concentrate on closeups of genitals". In a way it's really about the psychoemotional hangups of the main character vis-a-vis sex, but these are never really explored beyond her parents are uptight, she's afraid she's not skilled enough at sex, she likes to tease guys, etc. Caveat emptor :-)