I was actually glad Robbie put this movie on the list of movies because I had never seen it from beginning to end. Oh sure, I have seen bits and pieces in my life, but a 1980s sex comedy set in the 50s(?) just did not seem like something I could after watching American Pie. Porky's is known as the predecessor of movies like American Pie. It is the teen sex comedy all other teen sex comedies aspire to be. That is kind of a tall order for a movie that should be out dated now 27 years later.
Pee Wee(Dan Monahan) is desperate to have sex(again, or for the first time?). he is your typical high school kid, except he is a loser who plays basketball. Typically in movies, losers are not athletes (Point for Porky's). His friends are constantly making him the butt of the jokes and his energy is pretty annoying. His friends are a who's who of high school archetypes, which is nice. I like the familiarity. We get a redneck, a tough guy, a smart guy and a big dumb jock. Their names are not nearly as important as their quality. One thing they all love is naked women. One night they think they are going to pay at a strip club to have sex. The club is Porky's and Porky is a big fat mean cigar chewing man. He pranks the kids because he does not want underage kids in his club. Wait, basketball stars not allowed in a strip club for being underage (Point 2 for Porky's)? The redneck keeps going back to Porky's to even the score and he keeps getting the crap beat out of him. Fed up the friends need to find a way to pay Porky's back for the money they lost, the bruises and the embarrassment.
There are two side plots in Porky's that seem very out of place in a movie that is a teen sex comedy. the tough guy is actually abused by his father and the tough guy is an anti-Semite because his dad is. There are a few frank discussions about these topics and I applaud this movie for going there. This is what makes Porky's more than just a teen sex comedy. American Pie is just a teen sex comedy. it is the best one in that genre, but Porky's is more than that. Sure, there are plenty of sex jokes and sex gags and an abundance of female and male nudity, but when the movie was over, I was left thinking about these issues of abuse and racism. Whereas the American Pie gang were only concerned with sex, these guys are real friends helping each other through rough patches. These are friends that stand up to a drunk nasty dad, but know when to stay out of a fight as well. The biggest thing in a teen sex comedy is chemistry and these guys all have tons of it together. I believed all of these guys could very well be friends and I kind of wanted to hang out with them, even if they pull the craziest stunts.
The acting is serviceable for the most part, although I would have liked Pee Wee to be just a little bit less obnoxious, but it made the character work, I guess. There is a side plot with a gym coach and a teacher that is totally pointless except for providing some supposed laughs in one scene. Don't get me wrong the movie is plenty funny, that scene just does not do anything for me. Some of the jokes are a bit dated, but the movie is still plenty funny. I really enjoyed the easy going attitude of some of the friends. They provided some nice laid back laughs. It was as if this crazy nonsense was totally normal in the lives of these teens. There is something interesting about not feeling crazy amidst the craziness.
If you look at Porky's as just a teen sex comedy, I think it lacks things. Yes, it opens with a morning wood joke and continues to a penis measuring joke, but there are huge sections of movie that have nothing to do with sex and that climax has nothing about sex. It becomes a revenge flick. I love that Porky should be punished for not letting the under age kids have sex with his strippers, but I guess that is the fantasy of a movie. We are supposed to root for the sex crazed teenagers and not the business man trying to keep his business from catering to underage guys. What a nice fantasy world to inhabit!
Final Grade: B
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