Quella folle estate

The first two in the Lemon Popsicle series I saw were dubbed in English. This third one I saw in the original Hebrew with English subtitles. So Bobby is Momo here, Huey is Yudale, and lead Benji is Benzi. Martha is Bracha and Victor from the first one is Foyodor. As before, the continuity from the last one is ignored so once again they're friends who are just out for a good time, meaning to have sex wherever they can get it! This time, Benzi has two girls-Nurit who he's been going out with for a while and Nili who returned from a long trip who previously was involved with Momo. By the way, this Nili is probably not the same one from Lemon Popsicle since she's played by a different actress and doesn't seem to have the same characteristics. There's more slapstick than drama of which some of the most hilarious scenes involve a fine-looking cousin of Benzi's named Freida who gets quite a look from both Benzi and his father, even in front of the mother who's none to pleased, that's for sure! There's also another funny sequence between a female piano teacher and Momo that's basically him doing what a certain presidential candidate claims he gets away with on a certain hidden tape! At least one sequence was also used in the American remake of Lemon Popsicle, The Last American Virgin. When one thinks of it, does the plot of this one make sense, well, no but it provides plenty of laughs, that's for sure! So that's a recommendation of Hot Bubblegum.

This original classy version was replicated many times but never matched, three Israeli teenagers friends, the slender Benji (Tftach Katzur) the handsome Morno (Jonathan Sagall) and the best of them the fat guy who pay all expenses Yudale (Zachi Noy), they are a real troublemakers, Yudale has a trick to see pant's girls put a mirror attached at his shoes, quite often he ends up in trouble, taking some slaps, then came up the very famous sequence when they bringing three girl to at Benji's house which his parents are supposedly on travel, when the girls were almost nude they sudden appear, the mess is established and worst Yudale made a deal with girl, she should be naked while he will count until hundred at balcony and will get in, but after the confusion the Benji's mother went to the bed, then appears Yudale just wearing an old fashion underpants and going toward on the bed, what a mess, there are funny moments that worth to remember, when a gorgeous blonde and sexy cousin arrives at Benji's house to stays a little time, also the unforgettable sequence at piano's teacher, for beginners is great, for advanced was bad experience!!

Resume:

First watch: 1993 / How many: 5 / Source: TV-DVD-R / Rating: 7.75

This is the first one of the Israeli/West German "Lemon Popsicle" series that I have seen, but I am familiar with the seminal 80's American teen comedy "The Last American Virgin", which had the same director (Boaz Davidson) and was a virtual re-make of the first film in this series ("Going All the Way"). "The Last American Virgin" also borrows some scenes from this, the third in the series, including the scene where the protagonist "Benji" and his two friends pick up three girls, and while one of his friends gets very lucky with the most attractive one, he is stuck trying to get the bra off the dour, unattractive one. There is also a scene where the same three boys all try to have an ill-fated gang-bang with an older nymphomaniac, but while in "Last American Virgin" it was a Mexican spitfire on the hero's pizza route, here it is the hero's sexy blonde cousin(!) visiting from Poland. Most of this movie, however, involves the protagonist being torn between his loyal but virginal girlfriend "Doris" and the "fast" but unfaithful "Niki", who apparently is the same character that was in the first "Lemon Popsicle" film (and the one played by Diane Franklin in "The Last American Virgin").

It's ironic that some Americans regard this as a "rip-off" of "Porky's", not only because it obviously preceded "Porky's", but also because, if anything, the influence was in the other direction! Not only was "Last American Virgin" an important influence on later teen sex comedies like "Porky's", but the Jewish writers, directors, and producers of these American films were clearly aware of this Israeli series, even if the non-Jewish American audience of the the time largely was not. Most 80's American teen sex comedies actually have a lot more in common with this series than they do with the 70's American teen sex comedies, including a tendency to be set sometime in the past (usually the 50's and 60's) in order to pull a nostalgic and horny adult audience as well as a merely horny teen one, and a soundtrack filled with popular rock songs (I don't know how they got away with this back then--the music rights alone for a film like this today would be several times the budget).

Like "Last American Virgin" this is both raunchy and ridiculous, on one hand, but also strangely realistic, especially compared to insipid teen fairy tales like "Sixteen Candles" or "The Breakfast Club" (To my mind, it was the late John Hughes who really ruined these films by making them cloying, patronizing, and relatively sex free). This isn't a great film. The English dubbing is not bad, but dubbing is NEVER an asset, and the jokes tend to miss more than they hit. A lot of the characters are annoying stereotypes (like the horny fat kid), but the lead (Yftach Katzur) is good as are his very Jewish parents. His two girlfriends (Arielle Rabinovich and Oma Dagan) are quite pretty, and his frequently naked female cousin (Sybille Rauch) is very sexy.

If you like 80's teen comedies, you should definitely check this out, but I would recommend it to anyone regardless,

This is most probably the best of the Popsicle films, though they are all class(1-6 movies, the others are not so good). The laughs come thick and fast and the soundtrack reaches its peak. Benji's parents have some great lines in this film and Huey's scene with them is still one of the funniest scenes I've seen in a comedy

Rated R for Strong Language and Sexual Content.

Hot Bubblegum is the third entry in the Isreali Lemon Popsicle series.There are nine films in the entire series.I have seen the first three because they are on youtube.Part of the fourth film is on youtube and the whole film should be up soon.Anyway Hot Bubblegum is not as good as Lemon Popsicle 1 or 2(which was the best one), but it is still a funny 1980's teen sex comedy with a good mix of drama and romance in it.My only problem with this film is Bobby and Benji are always friends even after the events of the first and second film.In those, they always fight and never become friends again, yet in the next sequel, they are best friends as if nothing has happened.Also Nicki from the first film(played by a different actress) returns.Benji and her date and talk as if none of the events of the first film happened.Also in the first film, she seemed like a nice girl, yet in this one she's a b**ch! The film has basically the same story, three friends in the 50's or early 60's keeping up with exams,girlfriends and all the other things that teens go through in high school.If you like teen comedies, then check out the lemon popsicle series.