Orgazmo



Synopsis

Director Trey Parker plays Joe Young, a Mormon on a rather losing missionary trip toHollywood. A chance encounter lands him (reluctantly) as the lead in Orgazmo, a pornflick about the titular super-hero. The film becomes a runaway success, and Joe finds himself anunwilling porn superstar. Meanwhile, his co-star in the film has developed a real, workingversion of the hero’s Orgazmarator (or something like that), which causes orgasms at a distance.It is only a matter o… time before Joe starts fighting crime for real.

But that matter of time is rather endless — we are two thirds of the way through the moviebefore it starts getting to its point. The opening credits are a scream, but the rest of the moviegoes flabby quickly, throwing away most of its comic potential on the most obvious sub-Airplane jokes. And how can you cast Ron Jeremy and not mine comic gold from hisgrotesque presence? Matt Stone and Trey Parker are comic geniuses with animation and puppets,but they lack their assured touch with live action.

Audio

Stand back from this 2.0, which blasts away most enthusiastically. Trouble is, the effort goesover the top, and there are some instances of very bad placement (most notably voices comingfrom the rear speakers when they have no business doing so). There is also some distortion onthe dialogue.

Video

The picture is better, benefiting from very nice colours and contrasts, and a decently sharp1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. There is no grain to speak of, but there is a bit of edgeenhancement visible. A solid picture, then, especially for what is a pretty low-budget effort.

Special Features

God save us from this sort of commentary. There are three tracks here, all with too manyparticipants to keep track of. The first has Stone and Parker leading a drinking party whilewatching the film, and there is nothing more dull than listening to other people braying withlaughter. Track 3 is no better. Track 2 is a bit better, with the producer keeping things a bit moreinformative. The commentaries are only available on the theatrical cut of the film. Side A alsohas the unrated version, which runs two minutes longer, but that doesn’t make the differencebetween comic dross and comic gold.

Side B has deleted scenes with optional commentary (which seems to consist mostly oflaughter, thanks guys). The DragonCon interview with Parker is amusing as an example of a totaldisaster. “The Book of Orgazmo” is a 40-minute look at Parker’s early career, and is the bestextra here. We don’t need 40 minutes of outtakes, but here they are anyway, along with behind-the-scenes footage, some very short interviews with the key players, two trailers, a still gallery,and some Easter Egg outtakes. The menu’s main screen and intro are animated and scored.

Closing Thoughts

The potential was there, but the result is disappointing, and the extras are pretty much aimedonly at people who actually worked on the movie.

Special Features List

• Audio Commentaries
• Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary
• “The Book of Orgazmo” Documentary
• Dragon Con Interview with Trey Parker
• Trailers
• Outtakes
• Behind-the-Scenes Footage
• EPK Interviews
• Still Gallery
• Easter Eggs