Review of Porky's

Porky's (1981)
5/10
Too puerile, even for me.
1 January 2016
A group of horny high-school pals visit Porky's, a redneck bar in the Everglades, where they have heard that they can pay to get laid. After they are ripped-off by the bar's obese owner and his brother, a corrupt sheriff, the friends decide to take revenge.

Porky's was one of the first American teenage sex comedies to be a major hit at the box office, but I find its success rather perplexing. As a coming-of-age story, I think the film works well enough: the nostalgic setting and strong sense of camaraderie is certainly appealing, while the bitter feud between the teens and the Everglades rednecks, and a subplot that deals realistically with the issues of racism and family violence adds drama to proceedings. I do, however, find the film's raunchy antics nowhere near as funny as its characters, and director Bob Clark, obviously think they are.

The 'Mike Hunt' telephone gag which has the teens in stitches isn't that hilarious, or original, having been conceived in the mid '70s by pranksters John Elmo and Jim Davidson; the repeated jokes about penises soon become very tedious; and as much as I enjoy seeing a young Kim Cattrall without her kecks on, her 'Lassie' scene is embarrassingly bad and far too drawn out. Clark seems to think that if his characters roll around in uncontrollable fits of hysterics for long enough, it'll eventually have the audience laughing along with them. Not in my case… I just found it irritating.
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