Joy of Sex

If one sat down to watch a movie called "The Joy of Sex", you'd at least think there were some steamy sex sequences therein. Surprisingly, that is the main thing that's missing from the film. Look quick and you may catch one topless girl in a mob running by toward the end of the picture, the film's sole nude sequence. The sex scenes we do see are obscured from view half the time and most of which is left up to imagination. And surprisingly the film still bares an "R" rating, primarily for language and content. But what would be considered as the naughty sexual content in this film is no more risque that what I've seen in other PG and PG-13 rated films currently in the theater and in new release at the video store. Boy the times have changed. Suddenly in the late 90's and the new millennium we can almost get away with just about any innuendos these days.

Not too many highlights in the film. The laughs are few and far between. The film features the attractive Colleen Camp who is squandered in this opportunity. She receives far little film time as an undercover cop masquerading as the new hot girl in class at the high school where the film is based. Robert Prescott ("Bachelor Party" and "Real Genius") has a few humorous moments as a class clown, but not enough. The only real bright spot of the film is Christopher Lloyd as Coach Hindenberg. Lloyd's deadpan delivery never fails to win a laugh or two, but Lloyd can't support what is an unremarkable cast and a less than average teen sex comedy. The film is also known as "National Lampoon's: The Joy of Sex." Save you money and time. Rent "Animal House" instead.

This movie has several scenes that are very funny to watch interspersed with a lot of chaff. The director attempted to juggle far too many subplots, many of which are given short shrift in the mixed-up editing. In the end, it looks like one person directed about two films' worth of footage which was then thrown in a blender by another person to create the finished work. Names change from one scene to another, subplots are forgotten, characters are introduced only to be left by the wayside. All that aside, however, there are a few very funny scenes; the two main characters, both of whom spend the entire film trying to get laid (you'll never guess what happens at the end) are appealing.

I love finding 80s teen comedies that I haven't seen before. This was one of them and it has some really funny moments. It might not be as good as other main ones like animal house or porkeys but still deserves a higher rating.

This is one example why I take reviews for movies with a grain of salt.

Pretty tame and in spite of the random humour of site gags, a few wacky characterisations and the very occasional one-liner, it's also mostly bereft of comedy. What's left is a coming-of-age story concerning high school senior (Meyrink), who mistakenly believing she only has weeks to live, tries to "seal the deal" and lose her virginity. Lisa Langlois plays her bestie, as the two manufacture a series of oddball situations in which the deed can be done.

There's a couple of funny moments (e.g. Paul Tully's self-absorbed anchorman trying to cajole Meyrink into a sleazy motel shag), but mostly the capable cast is just wasted in embarrassing, undignified characterisations. An exception to this is Joanne Baron's bookish school mistress characterisation, humiliated by her adolescent tormentors at every opportunity; sexualised pranks are the order of the day for the ill-disciplined students of this particular school establishment, much to the frustration of hard-line principal Ernie Hudson.

Interesting to see Hudson and Lloyd just ahead of their career-defining moments in "Ghostbusters" and "Back to the Future" respectively, while I could have sworn it was Jeff Daniels playing the sleaze-bag reporter, alas, it was Paul Tully (no disrespect intended). Hastily concluded the plot holes have been papered over and the film leaves you to presume more than it resolves. It's quirky but ultimately not among the best of its eighties' breed.

This film's low rating is not surprising, exactly, but it deserves better. Granted, it has suffered on several levels, from being tied to a title of a book that it had nothing to do with, to John Belushi's death prior to filming. All of this is unfortunate, as a lot of people go into this film expecting something that it was never meant to be. Plus, as someone noted, the poor editing certainly doesn't help.

All that aside, what we're left with is a pretty decent 80's teen comedy along the lines of Better Off Dead, Weird Science and The Last American Virgin. Though not as classic as the above titles, it shares a lot of the same elements, and has plenty to offer to fans of the genre: some great lines, some genuinely funny scenes, a flashback to that 80's American high school experience that's embarrassingly perceptive enough to still ring true, and the great underrated Michelle Meyrink.

It is seriously overdue for DVD release.