Act Naturally

What would you have if you made a movie about a nudist colony... er, resort; but, didn't feature much nudity? You would have this movie. Though, they did have nudity here and there, it was painful to see the hoops they jumped through to avoid it. Women usually shown from the shoulders up, men from the waist up. Objects being carried awkwardly to cover certain areas of the body. Shots from a distance in order to ensure things were not too visible.

Then, on top of all that, there was a weak plot, weak dialog, and weak acting. They definitely could have done better. It was bold concept, but they didn't really run with it... too bad.

As a practicing nudist, I was interested in this and when it came to "On Demand", I bought it. However.....the film had a lot of things just, well, wrong with it.

It is extremely rare that someone is shamed into disrobing at any nudist facility. Oh it happens, but it's usually an "at your own pace" situation. So, ladies, if someone asks to a nudist or clothing optional gathering, you likely won't be pressured.

Second, there was a heavy emphasis on drinking. Yes, at some nudist parks the booze flows freely. And at others, it doesn't. Sex? Normally not part of a first-time visitors' experience, so guys, don't go to a nudist park thinking that the women lay down and bang.

Third, this depicted a lot of young adults. Most nudist resorts in the 21st century are sadly occupied by older adults. Nudism is trying to change that in order to survive.

Fourth, the acting. Rob Roy Fitzgerald and Liz Lytle stood out with some talent, but the rest of the crew - uh, nice try. But it did depict some of the fun aspects of nudism.

I can understand the lack of frontal nudity owing to union regulations.

So if you find this "in the discount rack" or want to get a download, it's probably worth it to satsify curiousity but no, it's not a masterpiece nor a totally accurate depiction of North American nudism.

The center of attention towards the film seems to be the amount of nudity. There is a large amount but the film's reasoning behind it stems from the people being "nudist" at a nudist resort. The story is relatively better than expect and only given a small plot description, it does showcase what it it about. The film isn't as provocative as initially thought, where this is a real film with a plot, convincing acting, characters, well dialogue and so on.

Although the end results are very predictable and we see sort of how they would unfold as the film progresses. With an obvious happy ending. The ending is given a very clear sequel bait, and apparently there is a sequel but not yet out? They really should have made the sequel right away. This film seems like it would actually made a decent tv series, given that there are several different characters and many subplots could ensure from it.

Like several other reviewers I found it refreshingly pleasant to see a film which has people nude for none sexual reasons and generally a reasonably enjoyable film to watch. However despite several favourable comments on the extras portion of the DVD from people who are reputedly real nudists I didn't really feel that it portrayed nudism very accurately. Firstly nudism is usually promoted as a family activity, in this film all the nudists appeared to be single, an almost complete lack of any families, only in the final few seconds were a couple briefly seen with kids in there arms, maybe they were real members of the club used in the film. My other reason for deleting points out of ten is the the foul language frequently used by the two women who were the central characters, this was totally unnecessary, if it wasn't for that I would have said it was a movie the whole family young and old alike could have enjoyed. In some ways the movie parodied the nudies from the 50's and 60's where there always seemed to be some object which just happened to be in the right place to obscure the view, which seemed to be done more for comedy than anything.

With all the films in Hollywood that glorify nudity as sexual, it's nice to watch a film that has more in common with the innocent Doris Wishman movies of the 60s than modern day porn flicks. I just wish that the film itself was as interesting as its premise.

The story itself is quite low-key, and even boring at times given that stakes are quite low: Leah and Charlie want to sell the nudist resort, but the nudists want to keep it, so they try to convince them otherwise. They live fairly comfortable lives before they arrive, and the character arcs in which they go are quite contrived.

The characters are all quite diverse, and the actors are all convincing in their parts. Yet, this doesn't yield as much drama as one would think. Leah and Charlie are both quite different characters, yet the actresses don't seem to have much chemistry together, and despite their different philosophies on life, don't particularly have interesting scenes together.

In terms of technical specs, the cinematography and sound are satisfactory. It's an indie pic, so the low budget look of the film falls more in line with a hipster music video, which certainly aids the film's flat, laid-back feel. It's just a shame a location that is not typically seen much in film is not filmed to be more interesting.

Above all, I think what really weighs the film down it that it's not particularly funny even though it's a comedy. The lines are not zingers (even with a gay character!), and it's hard to really laugh at the same joke over and over again. They're naked! The girls are uncomfortable! But, in the end, it's hard to be completely mad at the film. It's tone is quite pleasant, and the performances are pretty good. Just don't expect anything really earth shattering, given the subject matter.