Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I always like to say that it is best to review a movie in the context of what it is trying to be. I have a different set of expectations for a Hollywood Blockbuster than I do for something from the Sundance Film Festival and I have a different set of expectations from a romantic comedy and an erotic thriller.
Unfortunately, I don't think that American Virgin knows what it wants to be. Given the Cast (Mena Suvari, Bob Hoskins, Robert Loggia) one might expect a sophisticated comedy. Given the subject matter and setting (a porn producer fighting his rival for the film rights to his daughter's deflowering) as well as the supporting cast (several actual actors from the worlds of porn and erotica) one might expect a campy late-night, Cinemax sexual slapstick. The Trailer and description suggest a dark comedy about sexuality in American society. The film tries to be all of these at times and ends up falling short constantly.
As a serious comedy, it immediately fails. Suvari apparently made this film before her break through roles (in fact, its original title, "Live Virgin" was apparently changed to capitalize on her success in "American Pie" and "American Beauty", both far better films). Hoskins and Loggia have both performed a slew of better roles. The film simply isn't as well plotted and performed as one might hope a mainstream comedy would be.
As a titillating farce the film equally fails. The comedy tries to alternate between situational ironies, one-line zingers, visual sight-gags and slapstick hijinks. Its failure to commit to one and follow through causes confusion in the viewer and calls attention to the films other failures and inconsistencies. In a lower budget film, these failures might be covered up through the misdirection of constant nudity or frequent sexual interludes, but contrary to what one might think upon reading a synopsis of this film, there is only brief nudity (by characters that one wouldn't even consider in supporting roles) and only the smallest hint of sex or eroticism (it almost doesn't bare mentioning).
Most disappointing is the films inability to be the dark and poignant comedy that given the subject matter it could have been. There is a message of social commentary buried deep (very deep) inside all of the other non-sense that occurs. But it is only barely explored and all but lost amid the confusion of the rest of the film.
I won't go so far as to give the film a 1, because there are a few laughs to held, and because the film is trying to do something somewhat ambitious. I can't recommend it as any more of a curiosa worth owning to complete Suvari's trifecta of virginal roles with the word American in the title or as a film worth dissecting in a fit of boredom. It is truly sad that this couldn't be so much more.
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