Finding Bliss

I saw this at Slamdance and I really enjoyed it.

It's about a struggling filmmaker (Leelee S) who takes a job editing porn, but it's really more about her character's journey into her own issues (of the past and present) ... and the fact that this self-discovery takes place amidst the porn industry, well, that adds a good dose of humor and a bit of sex.

There's some laugh out loud moments, usually in the form of shock/crude humor or irony. There's also some drama and romance mixed in there, so it's honestly hard to classify it to one genre of film.

It's a lower-budget indie, but it has a great cinematic look with great performances by all the actors. Jamie Kennedy adds some air-headed humor, and Kristen Johnston adds some cutting humor (loved her). The actor opposite Leelee (Matthew Davis) initial appears as a jaded, cynical character, but of course, there is more beneath the surface and it's rewarding to see his character slowly unveil.

Fun movie, overall. Why an 8 and not a 10? I guess my only criticism is that I got a touch bored somewhere around the middle of the film. Perhaps the shock of the shock humor had lost it's shocking value by that point but we weren't yet to the meaty drama. I don't know. To me, it kind of lagged briefly before getting back on track.

But that's a small thing. Most of the time, I "found bliss" when watching FINDING BLISS.

I rented this movie for a few reasons, neither of which was because I thought it would be good. One, the cover of the DVD said "It's Boogie Nights for women", the second was that it was about a recent film school graduate who gets to work in the porn industry. Why? Well, not only to pay the bills, but so that she can use the studio at night and edit suites to make her own damn movie. Hmm...interesting.

Well, the film is really a direct to DVD quality film. You can immediately tell, if you couldn't from the cast: Leelee Sobieski, Denise Richards, Jamie Kennedy, Kristen Johnston and then some porn stars. It was written and directed by a woman, so the film is her basically a woman's view of the porn industry. Which is why I should have known that the big nude scene would involve a male and not a female. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Jamie Kennedy shows off his junk. I was not impressed.

Obviously working as an editor on a porn movie during the day and directing your own movie at night will take a toll on you, it does for our lead character. She falls for a guy who is directing the porn, why? Well, because every script needs some kind of romantic bit to it to attract the audience. Otherwise, these two people would never hook up. The comedy is tame and hardly funny, the drama has been done to death before (her parents find out and disapprove) and she says some things that her friends find out about and then...boom, she has no friends.

The real reason this film fails is because not only does it lack humour, but it lacks heart. The film feels cold and dead inside, not a good sign.

"Finding Bliss" is just a middle-of-the-road, soft-core film about a young film-maker struggling to succeed in Hollywood. Unfortunately it doesn't play out much better than just a student film itself.

It begins with every cliché and plot advance you expect to find in a chick flick. Our heroine has struggled with finding romance because she wears glasses and a ponytail. It doesn't matter that Leelee Sobieski is one of the most beautiful women on the planet, glasses and a ponytail equates with ugly. When she arrives in Hollywood the only place she can find a job is at a porn production company. We then succeed with every porn-associated joke done before. "He directed Charlie's Angels?!" our heroine asks incredulously, the response: "No, he directed Charlie's Anals". Don't worry, there's a lot more jokes along those lines.

This film really doesn't do anything wrong. The characters are fine, the actors are all cute, the storyline is engaging enough and it flows quickly. But they did all of that with over-used and tiresome jokes that just aren't that funny anymore. Every turn in the plot was telegraphed so clearly that the few inventive elements were completely predictable and expected. I found "Finding Bliss" to just be a Hollywood-reflective soft-core film that is not nearly as insightful as it was supposed to be.

Finding Bliss is promoted almost like a sex comedy, but is not a sex comedy. Instead it is an awkward mix of romantic drama and sex comedy. While trying to do two things, this movie ends up a mess. I don't think it will appeal to wither the male or female demographic. I know that it is a good movie can be equally enjoyed by both sexes, but this tries to combine the genres which have a set audience in mind.

It is a B grade movie. Everything from the acting to the script is amateur. Even Leelee Sobieski has done not done a good job. It feels as if that the whole film was made in a hurry. It has production values of straight to DVD sex comedies. The plot and the characters are not believable either. Everything is just to contrived.

By the way it is not a sex comedy, so if you are expecting that I recommend you watch something else. I have still given it an average rating though, because though it is a cheap B movie, It knows that it is a cheap B movie and doesn't pretends otherwise. There is a small payoff for those who like romantic movies, but I don't think it is worth it to watch the whole thing.

I have to say I too wanted to like this movie but unfortunately there was very little to root for other that Denise Richards and almost all of the supporting cast. The leads were too aware of themselves to make us care about them. Too much makeup and too much playing suave ... and, I wanted to like them both. There wasn't a second that I bought LeeLee Sobieski as a "film geek", she was too ... Sara Jessica Parker. The story was choppy and the dialogue was jumping all over the place. It strangely felt at times that the actors were saying someone else's line from another scene in someone else's movie. Denise Richards was pretty amazing, I bought -- hook, line and sinker -- everything about her performance. It's almost like I wish they could cut out her scenes and put them in a better movie.