Themes: Double Life, Crisis of Conscience, Righting the Wronged
Main Cast: Trey Parker, Dian Bachar, Robyn Lynne, Michael Dean Jacobs, Ron Jeremy
Release Year: 1997
Country: US
Run Time: 120 minutes
MPAA Rating: NC17
Plot
Trey Parker, creator of the TV series South Park, wrote, directed, and stars in this cheerfully vulgar comedy. Joe Young (Parker) is a devout Mormon living in L.A. trying to raise enough money to go back to Utah and marry his girlfriend, Lisa (Robyn Lynne Raab). Joe is spreading the word about the church of Latter Day Saints one day when he's confronted by two burly bodyguards. A scuffle breaks out, and Joe's martial arts skills impress Maxxx Orbison (Michael Dean Jacobs), who directs pornographic movies. Maxxx offers Joe 20,000 dollars to star in his latest skin flick as X-rated superhero Captain Orgazmo. While Joe is wary, he agrees under the condition that a body double is used during the sex scenes. Ben Chapleski (Dian Bachar), who plays the good captain's sidekick, Choda-Boy, has invented a real-life version of Orgazmo's secret weapon, a gun that stuns people with spasms of sexual ecstasy. When Joe and Ben learn that Maxxx is involved in organized crime, they leap into action to see that justice is served. Meanwhile, their film becomes a surprise crossover success, which means that Joe has a lot of explaining to do to Lisa. Trey Parker cast Orgazmo with a number of real-life adult film stars, including Ron Jeremy, Julie Ashton, and Chasey Lain. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Right as his irreverent cartoon sensation South Park was starting to win a television following, Trey Parker directed and starred in this project of equal cheeky audacity, which didn't see the light of day until after South Park became a huge hit. Parker never met a taboo he didn't want to tweak, but never let it be said that he's laughing at his material rather than with it. He plays Joe Young totally straight, which elevates Orgazmo beyond a bundle of inside jokes meant for his friends, to the higher plane of an enthusiastic parody that happens to make liberal use of the inherent vulgar humor of a porn set. Parker judges neither the porn kings nor their polar opposites, the fundamentalist Christians, so everyone is along for the same silly ride. Childish and clearly meant for South Park's teen audience, Orgazmo nonetheless refuses to win its viewers by showing skin. In fact, the film's few glimpses of breasts are immediately eclipsed by a man's hairy rear end -- Parker's teasing rebuke of those who rented the movie for prurient reasons. Consistent with Parker's naughty word fetish, the film earned an NC-17 rating more for its relentless use of industry terminology, much of it unprintable here. Although sex toys and other surprise shocks appear throughout, Parker prefers the imagination to fill in the gaps, as with one hilarious shot of the tangle of writhing legs attending to a particularly gymnastic starlet. South Park collaborator Matt Stone is also on hand as an on-set errand boy amusingly confused about his sexuality. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Compiled by the Dust Brothers and released on their NICKLEbag Records, the soundtrack to Trey Parker's Orgazmo is as eclectic as the Brothers' approach to sampling and complements the movie's tongue-in-cheek premise. Orgazmo unleashes on the musical world the debut effort by DVDA, a front for Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who seem to have secured an enthusiastic Tom Jones impersonator backed by your average local hair-metal revival band for their "Now You're a Man," because that is precisely what it sounds like. In that vein, the Dust Brothers are also able to bring out relatively lighthearted streaks in both KRS-One ("Check It Out"), and, even more amazingly so, Atari Teenage Riot. While you can't actually call "Sex Law Penetration" a lighthearted or laidback song, it is considerably slower than your average ATR fare, and is frequently interrupted by scratching, snippets of dialogue and samples of everything from disco to electrofunk. The Brothers, themselves, check in with their own "Try Your Luck," a sample fest of funkadelic beats, greasy, soul jazz organ, and cheesy horns. Hip-hop crew Dilated Peoples, the Crystal Method and April March also contribute some solid cuts. Probably for commercial purposes, "C.R.E.A.M.," off the first Wu-Tang Clan album, and Wreckx 'N' Effect's "Rump Shaker" still tasteless and as great as ever, are also included. The real gem on the album, though, is by COGASM, a side project from Robert Smith and Jason Cooper, of the Cure, and Reeves Gabrels, formerly of Tin Machine. Their effort, "A Sign from God," mixed by the Dust Brothers, combines tribal, dancy rhythms with some scratching for an uncharacteristically (for Smith) sprightly song. Overall, Orgazmo is a serviceable soundtrack, varied and fun, but only the COGASM cut truly scintillates. ~ Stanton Swihart, All Music Guide
The film revolves around Joe Young (Trey Parker), a Mormon missionary, who gets talked into starring in a porno movie by the famous porn director Maxxx Orbison (Michael Dean Jacobs) in order to earn enough money to marry his fiancée Lisa (Robyn Lynne Raab).
In the movie-within-the-movie, he plays a superhero named "Orgazmo" who fights crime with his sidekick "Choda Boy" played by Ben Chapleski (Dian Bachar) using his signature weapon, the "Orgazmorator," a device that forcefully triggers climax in those he uses it on. Following an agreement with the director, Joe acts and fights while a "stunt cock" does the rest. Orgazmo goes on to be a smash hit, and the director decides to exploit the missionary and make the movie into a series. Joe's fiancée is upset at his role in the film and leaves, and is kidnapped by the director to ensure Joe's participation in further filming.
Joe then decides to fight back using a real Orgazmorator invented by Ben, which gives him the powers his character purportedly had. He uses these powers to bring down the corrupt filmmaker and rescue his fiancée. The film wraps up with Lisa, seeing Ben's distress at the thought of his friend moving back to Utah, declaring that Joe must stay and fight crime with him. Ben, after a prayer from Joe, concludes by saying, "God bless us—every one" (a parody of Tiny Tim's line at the end of A Christmas Carol).
In the movie's final scene, Orbison is told that his testicles will have to be removed after a number of Orgasmorator-induced orgasms caused them to swell massively. He swears revenge on Orgazmo, vowing to become another character from the porno movies - Orgazmo's arch-nemesis, Neutered Man.
Release
The film was given an NC-17 rating, resulting in a very limited release in the US.
