If you think about it, it’s only a matter of time before The Discovery Channel does something like this during Shark Week. “Shark Orgy 3D?” Just think of the ratings!
Every year, after the glut of summer blockbusters has eroded from theaters, I’m left with the same problem: A lack of worthwhile movies to lampoon. You’d think it would be easier to make fun of movies as poorly conceived as Shark Night 3D, but you’d be wrong. These movies are already ridiculous enough. It’s like putting a clown nose on a jester. You’re only going to enhance the ridiculousness by a micron or two.
Do you guys even KNOW the plot for Shark Night 3D? Yeah, there’s the obvious: A bunch of hot-bodies played by no-name actors go up to a lake somewhere to have sex and then be eaten by “rare, fresh water” sharks. But do you know what the wrinkle to the plot is? The lake that the hot-bodies are wake boarding on has be STOCKED with sharks by a group that apparently “controls” them somehow.
So it’s not good enough that we have to push the same primeval fear response that Jaws and it’s glut of sequels pushed over a generation a go… and it’s not good enough that we mimic the same exploitation vibe of Piranha 3D from last year… but let’s throw in a little bit of a little bit of Deep Blue Sea and the threat of INTELLIGENT predators, just to be sure!
I look at a movie like Shark Night 3D and I’m immediately reminded of the monster movies and gimmick flicks of the 1950s. Films like THEM and Tarantula come to mind. It makes me wonder if audiences then felt insulted by a low rent premise like most discerning audiences do today?
Or maybe they were just on board for the spectacle of it? Special effects were still kind of a new thing in that era and they wanted to see something different. Does that excuse a movie like Shark Night 3D today? Look at the technology at the disposal of these filmmakers and THIS is what they use it for?
Maybe everyone just needs to get off my lawn.
Meanwhile, A Good Old Fashioned Orgy looks kind of interesting to me – and not for the obvious reasons. Actually, I’ve heard there’s very little sex in the movie and that it’s mostly a character piece with solid performances. To me, it kind of looks like The Big Chill meets Wet, Hot American Summer. But maybe that’s just me.
All I know is that I like Jason Sudeikis and I like Will Forte and I like Jason Sudeikis and Will Forte together. So this goes in the automatic “win” pile for me.
Thinking about Sudeikis’s track record this year – Hall Pass, Horrible Bosses and now A Good Old Fashioned Orgy – it’s clear he’s trying to make a push into leading-man territory. But I don’t know if that’s really his bag. I always end up laughing whenever he shows up somewhere, but something tells me he needs to hang around on Saturday Night Live a little longer to raise his profile. I don’t think the movies are cutting it for him.
What do you guys think? Is anyone interested in seeing Shark Night 3D? What’s the appeal for you? How about A Good Old Fashioned Orgy? Was it even on your radar? Because, I gotta admit, I hadn’t even HEARD of it until just this weekend.
Leave your comments below!