Turn Me On, Dammit!

The concept of the adolescent sex comedy is not something movie goers haven't seen before, but the Norwegian film Turn Me On, Dammit! does offer a new perspective on a popular, yet critically maligned sub-genre. The film features everything one might expect from a sex comedy. Awkward moments, a few shocks, and several scenes of tenderness, however the thing that sets this film apart from the American Pies, is that the horny teenager in this film is a female.

The film focuses on Alma, a 15-year-old girl who lives in the small town of Skoddeheimen, and is in a constant state of fantasy, daydreaming about sleeping with nearly every man she lays eyes on. To suppress her urges, she becomes slightly addicted to calling phone sex lines, although she realizes they are a poor substitute for real human affection. She lives with her mother, who doesn't exactly know how to cope with her daughter's budding sexuality, and has difficulty approaching the subject. Alma is also in love with her neighbor Arthur, but after an incident at a party involving him, she misses her shot and becomes the school's pariah.

Adapted from a novel by Olaug Nilssen, and written and directed by Jannicke Systad, the most interesting part of Turn Me On, Dammit! is the simple fact that there's a female lead. Too often in American cinema we only see boys as dorky, sex-obsessed virgins. In our sexually repressed society, it's easy to forget that girls get horny too, and that's exactly what this film explores.

While there were certainly some embarrassing and uncomfortable moments in the film, it would be unfair to compare it to the sex comedies of America, because rather than focusing on the outlandish, this film takes a much more grounded approach. The comedy is less gross-out sight gags, and more dialogue-driven and situational.

The bleak backdrop of the one-horse town the characters live in is just enough to give the film that Euro-indie feel that we are all becoming accustomed to. Those viewers that grew up in small towns will also appreciate the stagnant feeling the characters all seem to share regarding the town.

While the majority of the film was charming, there weren't too many laugh out loud moments. Although some of the jokes may have been lost in translation, overall it was not a very funny movie. That's not to say it wasn't entertaining, just don't expect a laugh riot.

The film's climax also left something to be desired. The majority of the film moved at a relatively slow pace, then when Alma hit her lowest point, she inexplicably does a 180 and everything is sunshine and rainbows once again. One could argue this sentiment, but I would have liked to have seen a stronger resolution between Alma and her mother, and be given more inner dialogue from her explaining why she was feeling better about life.

Although Norway seems to be cranking out high quality movies left and right these days, most of them are gritty crime stories, so it's refreshing to see a more light-hearted film come our way. Turn Me On, Dammit! is a charming, yet slightly flawed coming of age story that will entertain some, and outrage others (Republicans, I'm looking at you.) Adam FilmPulse.net

I don't know what to say about Minnie Long's comment that Helene Bergsholm hadn't told her parents about the scenes she plays in this film. She obviously thinks she heard it.

As the US publicist, let me tell you what happened in fact: when Helene was offered the role of Alma, director Jannicke Systad Jacobsen met with her and her parents in a hotel to have them read over the entire script, and, as Bergsholm was underage at the time, to give their consent. As anybody who has worked on a film knows, the film could never have been released without a signed document from the parents. It is very serious business what you depict sexually with minors on screen. And in particular, somebody like Helene, who is not a professional actor.

This film is definitely quite interesting. It's not appropriate as a family film, but I think the title suggests that. Much of the film carries a sexual context to it, but unlike many films and TV programmes, it's not over-the-top or unnecessary, but fits the plot appropriately.

The film manages to take one very strange, small, and extremely socially inappropriate action from one character and make an entire plot out of it. This takes a lot of creativity and I don't think I've seen that done as well as in this film. With just a few words about this film, I usually can convey enough about the entire plot to get someone interested in it.

The film also manages to present well the negative feelings some people get when they've lived in a small village for a long time. From the beginning of the film, the characters express a form of hatred for their village, which is definitely a feeling many villagers have.

Although I wouldn't say the film is one of the best I've watched, it manages to be mentioned by me a lot as "the weirdest film I've ever seen." It's definitely worth watching, especially if you're interested in something unconventional.

This film deeply effected me since I had many experiences in the same flavor as Alma as a teenager, and to this day have never seen or read anything that describes the specific pain of those years until now.

I felt that this film very clearly and artistically outlined the double-standard that still exists, even in a relatively feminist country like Norway. Even 30 years after the sexual revolution of the 1960s, it is still taboo for young girls to be fascinated by their own pleasure and sexuality, even though it is expected for boys to experiment early and often.

This film tells a tale which is rarely told so honestly, and instead of painful its gorgeous, smart and funny, set in a beautiful landscape with a dreamy soundtrack. The film is shot in lush colors, with cute humor... well, I big dose of cute (which I am typically allergic to), but this film won me over, big time.

I happened to read the more negative review further down, and thought I had to post some input. If you live in Scandinavia and a "youth movie" comes out in your own language, you're bound to think the pace is wrong, the acting is poor and that the story isn't believable.

As I live in Sweden I couldn't sense anything wrong with the dialog, thought the acting was good and nothing sounded unnatural. I bet if Espen down here went and saw a similar Swedish movie like Lina's Kvällsbok or Sandor Slash Ida, he wouldn't find them as awkward as I did.

So maybe Norwegian and Swedish scriptwriters should just start sending their scripts across the border, shoot their movies in the other country with foreign actors/actresses, and then market it through local media as the new hot movie from the neighbor country :) Personally, I read about the film in Ottar, the member newspaper for RFSU (the Swedish "National Association for Sexual Enlightenment").

The movie was a little short though, only 72 minutes. I think they could've thrown in more of those embarrassing comic relief scenes, you'll understand what I mean if you go and see it!