DearJohnny

A bizarre, demented, utterly berserk multi-chapter hoot that's a pure delight for camp enthusiasts, sci-fi movie freaks, and fans of the demented in any form. Wild, woolly adventures in a lost city in Africa which seems to have only three inhabitants. The story, if one can call it that, concerns an elderly captive scientist who elongates and lobotomizes natives (and can also make black people white), his beautiful daughter, the evil dictator who holds them captive, his assorted flunkies, a fiendish jungle priestess of some sort, a painfully earnest hero and his doltish, bumbling sidekick, and God knows what else. Weirdly acted, scripted by someone who must have been drunk out of his mind (or SOMETHING), and, oddly, has impressive special effects, given the time. Derivative, racist, whacked out, and utterly delightful.

One of a plethora of PORKYS-inspired teen-sex comedies, memorable mainly for starring future TV star Rob Morrow ('Northern Exposure') and future mega-star Johnny Depp ('Pirates of The Caribberan', among others). It's essentially the same set-up as any other movie of this type: Two callow youths, one a self-professed Lothario (Depp), the other naive but desperate to lose his virginity (Morrow), find themselves in an exotic location, in this case a beach-front hotel, and become involved in wacky hijinks while in pursuit of sex. Depp is understandably not fond of this thing, done very early in his career to pay the rent. Both he and Morrow have fairly lengthy rear-nude scenes, mostly running around trying to hide when their attempts at seduction go disastrously wrong. There's also a subplot about a violent thug plotting to romance a scatter-brained dowager to obtain a valuable jewel, as well as an exasperated hotel manager determined to catch our heroes in the midst of inappropriate behavior.

Surprisingly, it's only half as awful as one would expect, thanks to some lively comedy and a fairly talented cast. To put it in perspective, it's better than, for instance, PORKYS 3, but not quite as good as an average 'Three's Company' episode.