Pornorama

This movie is not related to the documentary on the porn industry with the same name.

First, this movie is in no way a "chronicle of the Munich sex film industry." It is a story about a group of losers & underachievers that decide to make a very softcore sex film in the 1970's in Germany. No more & no less.

Many of the scenes and gags we have seen before. A lot of the jokes fall flat. The main running gag is a lead actress in a sex film that doesn't speak German and will not take off her clothes at all. It was never funny but a big part of many scenes.

The acting was good. The movie is well put together. The script has an okay story but nearly all the jokes fail. Despite the movie title, there is nothing porn or porn related. A couple of very brief scenes of nudity is all. This movie could have been rated PG-13.

This movie fails in many respects but it was still okay to watch. But both the title and plot outline are very misleading.

A group of dropouts wants to cash in on the sex film craze of the era and shoots a tame softcore flick with a raunchy title. Actually, the movie turns out a lot less racy than even they had intended, because the lead actress doesn't speak a word of German and isn't willing to even unbutton even the top bottom of her cardigan. This serves as the backdrop to the main plot, where the director of said film, a bumbling police recruit, falls in love with a hippie chick, who doesn't dig his professional aspirations.

The movie is ultimately saved by its cast, but suffers from a been-there-done-that-a-million-times script, and its failure to deliver anything but weak digs at the counter culture of the late Sixties as well as the "sex education" flicks of the era. If you're interested in the latter -- and you should be, they were often hilarious -- you should check out the "Als die Liebe laufen lernte" compilations, if you can find them.

The movie's funniest scene is a compilation of scenes from German sex-ed movies that were popular in the sixties and seventies. And that tells a lot about this movie.

It is so sad that the movie is so very shallow, because by looking at the picture it is obvious that there were many talented and ambitious people involved.

That it not to say that the movie is bad. In fact, you will probably have a good time at the cinema and leave it very amused. There are some fresh jokes, very good actors and an incredible production design that gets the sixties right by not making it too glamorous, although it sometimes looks a little too polished.

Unfortunately, the plot does not have anything to do with the Munich sex film industry at all, as the tag-line and the production material would like you to think. And this is where the movie gets disappointing. Instead of really dealing with this industry which would probably make for a very funny movie in itself, the film follows a bunch of losers who would like to make a movie LIKE the Munich sex film industry. Neue Constantin Film has done a lot of these movies as well in that time so there should be a lot of material in the archives that could have been used for reference, but instead, after the compilation scene mentioned earlier, the movie does not have anything to do with that business at all.

There was just so much potential here and instead of using it the producers went for the easiest route which makes this film ultimately shallow and irrelevant.

I want to point out two things that I found especially distracting and disappointing.

a) Mousse T. has been hyped as having delivered his first movie soundtrack here. His music is actually quite good, a very enjoyable soundtrack. BUT it is completely wrong for this movie. While the beats seem to be reminiscent of the sixties, it is not at all reminiscent of any German music of the time. Sure, people listened to soul and music like that but for a movie like this it would have been more appropriate to remix some of the typical music found in German movies of the time. I guess that choice would have seemed too risky for the producers.

The soundtrack choice is a typical example of this movie that makes fun of the sixties from our point of view with an attitude that seems to say: "Aren't we so much more advanced today?" There is also a scene in which a naked woman walks across the room with a ridiculous amount of pubic hair. Instead of letting the comedy come out of the fact that the scene is witnessed by a young guy who has never experienced sexual freedom the movie chooses to make fun of the fact that women did not shave their pubic hair at the time. A movie like "Sonnenallee" made fun of life in the German Democratic Republic of the seventies by showing its oddities, but it never showed modern audiences as more advanced or superior. this movie chooses this point of view which somehow leaves a bad aftertaste.

b) This is a typical movie where in the end the plot is completely pushed aside to make way for the relationship of the protagonists. I don't spoil too much by saying that this movie has the typical ending where one character has to declare his love to the other in front of a large group. And as if this isn't enough, he has to do it TWICE in front of two different groups until the other person finally gives in. If you had your eyes rolling at the cliché the first time around you will stark shaking your head at the second time.

But I am making the movie sound worse than it actually is. In fact, apart from the ending nothing about this movie is really bad, it is just never as good as it could have been. It is fun while it lasts if you don't think too much about it. I was especially surprised by Benno Fürmann who often seems to act a little wooden but comes across well here as good-for-nothing Freddie. But I bet that you will forget the movie shortly after you walk out of the cinema.

Well it is (soft) porn actually but you catch my drift - no pun intended. I can actually imagine that something similar to what we are being served (shown) here actually happened. There was a time when you couldn't find any- and everything online - there was no online. Can you imagine? Sounds strange I assume, but it was true.

I had seen this before but I reckon I forgot to rate and review it back then. I may be a bit too kind ... but it was fun watching it. Yes suspension of disbelief and all that ... but it has the right amount of humor (if you tune into it) and a small dosage of nudity too .. which is needed to have credibility ... even more so when you consider the "prude" elements in it ... a release is more than welcome .. come to think of it ... too many comes ... I mean variables maybe, but it has the heart in the right place (you know where).

I had forgotten what good actors were assembled here - which is needed. Comedic timing is everything. A nice little movie that could ... and can ... and came in the end ... through that is.