Act Naturally

Like several other reviewers I found it refreshingly pleasant to see a film which has people nude for none sexual reasons and generally a reasonably enjoyable film to watch. However despite several favourable comments on the extras portion of the DVD from people who are reputedly real nudists I didn't really feel that it portrayed nudism very accurately. Firstly nudism is usually promoted as a family activity, in this film all the nudists appeared to be single, an almost complete lack of any families, only in the final few seconds were a couple briefly seen with kids in there arms, maybe they were real members of the club used in the film. My other reason for deleting points out of ten is the the foul language frequently used by the two women who were the central characters, this was totally unnecessary, if it wasn't for that I would have said it was a movie the whole family young and old alike could have enjoyed. In some ways the movie parodied the nudies from the 50's and 60's where there always seemed to be some object which just happened to be in the right place to obscure the view, which seemed to be done more for comedy than anything.

This cringe-worthy comedy about a nudist club NAILS IT in some respects. (I say this having been a part of the nudist community for 35 years.) Nudism is synonymous with heavy drinking, and there's plenty of that in this film. Nudist clubs tend to be a bit on the run-down side (in maintenance terms) and they do tend to shelter many people running from something- either the law, or an ex-wife, or child support payments, etc. This film is OFF THE MARK in terms of the portrayals of people being shamed to take their clothes off upon entry. Realistically that just doesn't happen. In fact, my nudist club neighbor just died two weeks ago and his clothed family visited here several times to take care of his belongings. In a real-life nudist club, nobody cheers when you remove your clothes. That's just creepy. Last but not least, the average age of people in a nudist club in America is mid-60s. You'll see lots of old folks, white haired, flabby, and flatulent. But none of that makes for a film that's trying to catch eyeballs.

I guess the film makers did one thing right in putting their best effort into the first half of the film, so then at least some would watch the ending for the resolution despite it's decline in script, editing, pacing and sense.

To be fair, we did laugh at many scenes at the beginning, though some from the cringe element. The two sisters are oddly prudish even for two non-nudists. The cast appears to be a mix of actors and extras given speaking parts. Perhaps some agreed to frontal nudity and others didn't, because we get a mix of straightforward nudity and fan-dances with comically, strategically placed props.

However, that's not what really let's it down. The sound is choppy throughout, and the camera needlessly handheld at times. In the last act the script, not strong to begin with, falls apart, and actors seem to be ab libbing with the most banal non-communication. The editing goes to pot, especially with the multiple fade-to-black cuts during the not-sad-at-all funeral. The final insult is that the resolution of the story is not revealed to us - the argument and subsequent agreement between the sisters is without audio, with just...airplane noises over the top? WHY? Was the audio not useable? Why not reshoot? Was the script so lame that it was deemed unworthy of inclusion? Again, reshoot, please! It couldn't have been expensive to shoot - two girls and a car on the side of a country road.

I don't know. Hopefully it was a learning experience for everyone involved.

With all the films in Hollywood that glorify nudity as sexual, it's nice to watch a film that has more in common with the innocent Doris Wishman movies of the 60s than modern day porn flicks. I just wish that the film itself was as interesting as its premise.

The story itself is quite low-key, and even boring at times given that stakes are quite low: Leah and Charlie want to sell the nudist resort, but the nudists want to keep it, so they try to convince them otherwise. They live fairly comfortable lives before they arrive, and the character arcs in which they go are quite contrived.

The characters are all quite diverse, and the actors are all convincing in their parts. Yet, this doesn't yield as much drama as one would think. Leah and Charlie are both quite different characters, yet the actresses don't seem to have much chemistry together, and despite their different philosophies on life, don't particularly have interesting scenes together.

In terms of technical specs, the cinematography and sound are satisfactory. It's an indie pic, so the low budget look of the film falls more in line with a hipster music video, which certainly aids the film's flat, laid-back feel. It's just a shame a location that is not typically seen much in film is not filmed to be more interesting.

Above all, I think what really weighs the film down it that it's not particularly funny even though it's a comedy. The lines are not zingers (even with a gay character!), and it's hard to really laugh at the same joke over and over again. They're naked! The girls are uncomfortable! But, in the end, it's hard to be completely mad at the film. It's tone is quite pleasant, and the performances are pretty good. Just don't expect anything really earth shattering, given the subject matter.

What would you have if you made a movie about a nudist colony... er, resort; but, didn't feature much nudity? You would have this movie. Though, they did have nudity here and there, it was painful to see the hoops they jumped through to avoid it. Women usually shown from the shoulders up, men from the waist up. Objects being carried awkwardly to cover certain areas of the body. Shots from a distance in order to ensure things were not too visible.

Then, on top of all that, there was a weak plot, weak dialog, and weak acting. They definitely could have done better. It was bold concept, but they didn't really run with it... too bad.