Would you ever consider having an orgy with your best friends? Well, maybe not, but basically, that’s the idea behind A Good Old Fashioned Orgy. Every summer weekend, Eric and his 30-something friends get away from their hectic/boring New York City lives and go out to the Hamptons where Eric’s dad has a house. They throw elaborately themed parties and each gets bigger and better. Now that his dad is selling the house, Eric wants to do something special for their last hoorah over Labor Day weekend. What could make more sense than an orgy? Alex Gregory and Peter Huyck, first-time directors and feature film writers (they’ve both been nominated for five primetime Emmy’s) manage to take the antiquated concept and give it comedic roots while staying true to the idea of friendship.
The main character is Eric, played by Jason Sudeikis, but what I enjoyed was how it felt more just like an ensemble. No one character outshines the others, each has their own storyline and they all flow very well together. Jason Sudeikis has been working his way up to a lead role and he carries this film with ease and superb timing. His last two major roles in Hall Pass and Horrible Bosses really highlighted his charm and wit, and here it’s no different. Tyler Labine (in the current Rise of the Planet of the Apes and the upcoming Tucker and Dale VS Evil) is well cast as a (perhaps) dim-witted yet thoughtful Mike who plans the party with Eric. Other notable cast members include some of my favorites: Martin Starr (NBC’s Freaks & Geeks, Showtime’s Party Down), Will Forte (MacGruber, SNL) and Lucy Punch (Bad Teacher).
The one character I couldn’t quite warm up to was Kelly, played by Leslie Bibb (Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby). I loved her in Talladega, but in this, she really came off terribly. At first I thought it was her, but the more I think about it, it was that I didn’t like her character at all. I think the writers were trying to make their relationship progressive, but it really didn’t work for me. I felt like the other characters had a better story arc then Eric and Kelly.
The film is funny, entertaining and has some definite R-Rated scenes. It’s never boring and all the subplots carry any slowness to keep it going. I very much enjoyed it but I can see how audiences would be split on it because of their level of perceived believability.
Rating: Raunchy and entertaining. 7/10
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