Title: A Good Old Fashioned Orgy

Opens: September 2, 2011

One of the guys in this fast-moving, sexy movie states that his generation-those in their 30s-compared to what came before and after, are “the lamest.” If this fun-loving group is the lamest, pass me the crutches: I want in. While some life-is-a-party people around the country are hoping that they serve beer in hell, the whole gang in Alex Gregory and Peter Huyck’s “A Good Old Fashioned Orgy” are probably thinking more of Vodka Tonics to cool things off when the flames get too close.

Though the climactic moments, so to speak, are like Judd Apatow light, the language is happily ribald as you might expect when a group of 30-somethings, almost all single and yet all thinking that their feelings for one another are platonic, plan their wild parties in the Hamptons. Happily for Eric (Jason Sudekis), the handsomest dude in the gang and the de facto party organizer, his dad (Don Johnson), owns a sprawling house in which he rarely resides. The bad news, though, is that Dad wants to sell, which would mean that the big Labor Day party-cum (again, so to speak)-orgy will be the last. Still, Eric is clever enough to think of ways to sabotage the sale.

Guys who believe that it’s fun to serve brown bean dip out of a toilet bowl are my kind of people. If you agree, you’ll be rooting, as I did, that the big blast will be smooth and that everyone will get what he or she wants, whether it’s the gal who secretly holds a torch for Eric, the shy one who dreams of getting it on with the businesslike guy, and the mental health worker who needs to stop intellectualizing that party people are covering up their inability to make deep emotional commitments.

Mike (Tyler Labine) is one fellow who can draw laughs from the audience just by showing up. By way of overkill he wears a T-shirt that affirms “Life is too short not to be Norwegian.” Generally stoned out of his mind when not nursing a hangover, Mike will get a comeuppance when told that he, unemployed, is nothing more than Eric’s pet, though Eric, who has become smitten with his dad’s slim, blond realtor, Kelly (Leslie Bibb), will likely be snowed under by people who want to be adopted by him.

Once the men are on board for the orgy, the women sign on one by one; Sue (Michelle Borth), is yet another gal who has a thing for Eric, Laura (Lindsay Sloane) wants to break out of her shell, and psychologist Allison (Lake Bell) joins in only when she breaks up with her beau du jour. Perhaps the best scene involves the research the men do, as they’d never had an orgy before. At a sex club presided over by Vic George (David Koechner, of all people), they learn the ins and outs (need I say “so to speak”?), then retiring to the TV to watch good old fashioned porn.

Gregory and Huyck know how to write terrific one-liners and, wearing their directors’ caps keep the action going in a frenzied pace while the performers have comic timing down aces.

Rated R. 95 minutes. (c) 2011 by Harvey Karten Member: NY Film Critics Online

Overall – B+