South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker are no strangers to controversy, skewering practically every facet of life over the show's 26 seasons thus far. Premiering on August 13th in 1997, the show has tackled everything from gentrification, Dianetics, and even Barbara Streisand's double life as a mechanized dinosaur that wrecks cities for fun. The creators have also taken their signature style of satire to Broadway with the lauded Book of Mormon, which snatched up nine Tony Awards after its debut in 2011. Few know, however, that the duo released a film the same year that South Park debuted featuring a Mormon lead who stumbles into the seedy world of adult films. This film is the often overlooked sex comedy Orgazmo.
What is 'Orgazmo'?
Premiering on September 7, 1997, Orgazmo was written and directed by Trey Parker, who also stars as the protagonist Joe Young, a Mormon on mission in Los Angeles. He is idealistic, faithful, and eager to share his love of the Lord with anyone willing to listen. When he knocks on the door of a mansion hosting an adult film shoot, he is forced to use his superior kung fu skills to defend himself from the shoot's security, impressing the director of the film, Maxxx Orbison (Michael Dean Jacobs). Orbison offers Joe the lead role in the current production, a film called Orgazmo, featuring a superhero who wields an "Orgazmorator," a device that instantly delivers an orgasm upon whomever it is blasted.
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Once aboard the production, Joe meets the cast of misfits that populate this part of society that he never imagined seeing. His costar Ben Chapleski (Dian Bachar) is a literal genius, who has made a working model of the Orgazmorator, and the two find the lines between fiction and reality blurred when they discover that Orbison is actually a crime lord terrorizing their local neighborhood. Soon the two don disguises similar to their onscreen personas to take the criminals to task.
Your Favorite Comedy Duo is Actually a Trio
If this all sounds ludicrous, that’s because it is. What is even more ludicrous, however, is how good it is. Even with a premise this wild and unhinged, Parker’s script crackles with comedic gold, believable dialogue, and a great amount of heart. The film manages to look and feel simultaneously like a true Hollywood blockbuster and also a low-rent adult film. The laughs are constant, and not all of which are as shock-based as one might expect. Parker never plays Young as a buffoon or lost cause - in fact, his naïveté and unyielding optimism prove to be his greatest assets by the end of the film. While his beliefs are illustrated to be childlike in their simplicity, his devotion to them isn’t played as parody, but rather it’s evident that Parker almost admires Young’s unshakable faith. Even though they’re clearly making jest of his faith, as their nine Tony Awards, Oscar nomination, and four Emmy Awards contest, they’re very, very good at it.
The true secret weapon of Parker and Stone is longtime collaborator Dian Bachar. His Ben Chapleski character is the accessible entry point for the everyman into this seedy world of sex toys, augmented organs, and extreme penetration. Eagle-eyed fans will recognize his face from 1993’s Cannibal! The Musical and 1998’s Baseketball, and his voice as Chris, Satan’s boyfriend in South Park after Sadaam Hussein is killed during the events of South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. Bachar offers an innocence to his roles that contrasts the often wildly inappropriate situations in which he finds himself, contributing to the overall conceit of Parker and Stone’s comedic approach. Their oeuvre can essentially be boiled down to the perversion of innocence by a filthy world, as evidenced by their penchant for high-pitched voices, jaunty musical numbers, and naive characters.
The Secret Link Between 'Orgazmo' and John Wick
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Orgazmo shouldn’t be good cinema, based on the story, the subject matter, the relative youth and inexperience of the people behind it, and the limited production capabilities allowed by the budget. Perhaps that’s why it’s so surprising that it actually is. Roger Ebert didn’t like the film, but did anyone expect him to? There’s a lot to look through to see Orgazmo’s heart, and the majority of decent folk will balk at the storyline and refuse to take the time to do so. Those who are already acclimated to Parker and Stone’s comedic style, i.e. South Park fans, might actually find the backbone of Orgazmo to be too tame. Young is almost too pure, and his fighting skills, along with the Orgazmorator, make his crusade almost too easy. It’s worth noting that the stunt team on this film is incredible, including David Leitch, who would go on to direct John Wick and Deadpool 2, and Chad Stahelski, who completed Brandon Lee’s scenes after his passing on The Crow and worked alongside Leitch on John Wick. The fight scenes in Orgazmo are good, engaging, and surprisingly visible. Frankly, they're better than they had any right to be. Any other young, inexperienced director might’ve shot around the complexity of the fighting or buried it in fast edits, but Parker embraced the challenge, rising to it by working with the best. The venerated Lloyd Kaufman even cameos at the end of the film as a surgeon who helps reveal a sequel tease.
Orgazmo succeeds in lampooning the adult film industry by casting many notable actors of the genre in the film, and makes a decent superhero origin story along the way. The opening credits of comic book panels are clear reproductions of classic superhero fare with the iconic heroes replaced by Orgazmo. The opening song “Now You’re a Man” is a hilarious rock riff by Parker and Stone from their ubiquitous fake musical act DVDA. The film even gives context to the meaning behind DVDA, something far too vulgar to repeat in this polite exchange of thoughts and opinions. The jabs at religion are fast, funny, and clever. There’s a moment when Young’s fiancée Lisa (Robyn Lynne Raab) browses videos at a rental store, looking through the Epics section at titles like Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus Scissorhands, Pulp Jesus, and Raging Jesus. It could almost be a throwaway joke but the production went so far to create facsimile covers and shoot the POV, wedging the humor in a scene that actually serves the story.
Bring Back the R-Rated Sex Comedy
Upon its release, Orgazmo was saddled with the dreaded NC-17 rating, despite very little nudity in the film over its 95-minute runtime. While the sexual references are indeed numerous and flabbergasting, Orgazmo is not a sexy movie by any definition of the term. As No Hard Feelings is enjoying a strong run in theaters right now, making a case for the return of the R-rated sex comedy, now is a perfect time to take a look at the daring first steps of one of America’s most controversial and shocking comedic duos of the last thirty years. Orgazmo may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it is a genuinely entertaining tea bag of a film that deserves its audience.
