American Virgin

I really thought he was above this kind of low-budget garbage. I thought he made good movies. And the same for Mena Suvari, who's been so good in everything she's done.

How many of you were like me -- you saw that Hoskins and Suvari were starring in "American Virgin," so you rented it, figuring it would meet a certain standard?

Also, what about Esai Morales? I didn't realize that his career had fallen so far down the tubes that not only is he appearing in something like this, he's not even a star. He only has a few lines and a bit part.

This movie was repulsive! I don't know why any of the actors would even do something this pathetic. It really makes me sick to be honest. I have nothing really personal against the subject matter and if it had been done differently maybe it could have been funny. But the way this was done was just pathetic and dumb! Just for Mena I give it a 2 out of 10!

There is no way around the conclusion that this production was a major embarrassment to everyone associated with it and a career breaker to some.

Castwise, Mena Suvari and Gabriel Mann somehow manage to maintain their dignity despite the total meltdown around them and Alexandra Wentworth actually turns in an excellent performance in one of the supporting roles. But Bob Hoskins and Robert Loggia are unbelievably awful and the rest of the cast are not much better.

The concept was fairly original or at least the most extreme take on an unoriginal concept, but at the last minute it gutlessly pulls back for a lame moralistic ending.

The directing, production design, and editing are all about as bad as you will find in a mainstream production. Bad enough that the movie would be a useful bad example for students in film school.

Whenever an actor or director I like passes away, I often find something somewhat obscure to watch in their honor, especially if I've seen all of their most famous output. Sometimes I dig up something really bad, though, and that's the case with American Virgin, which I watched in memory of Bob Hoskins. Robert Loggia and Hoskins star as rival pornographers. When Loggia's teenage daughter (Mena Suvari, who made this film shortly before American Pie and American Beauty) goes off to work for Hoskins, a war between the two men begins. This mostly consists of the two actors hamming it up yelling at each other. This movie, made in Europe, has no idea how to make anything funny. For a while, it's amusing in just how weird it is, and, let's face it, Loggia and Hoskins can ham it up fun, but, after a while, it gets just plain boring.

The movie started off well. I thought the premise was a fitting depiction of media sensationalism today. About half way through it tried too hard to be funny and lost direction. Only to come to a predictable and anticlimactic ending. It really disappointed me as it had a very talented cast who weren't utilized well. Bobbie Phillips' character starts off interesting and then just disappears for the rest of the movie. Maybe she knew how it would turn out!