Well, here I go again, getting dragged down into the rabbit hole that happens to be NetFlix's recommendation algorithm. As soon as I noticed that the plot of the film was about a High School graduate dating the girl next door who happened to be a porn star, my interest was piqued, and I decided to watch it. Sure, I might claim that I am immune to these recommendation algorithms, but unfortunately Netflix certainly does a pretty good job of suckering me in.
So, as I mentioned, this film is about this High School student who happens to also be school president, and has been accepted into Georgetown University. Also, he happens to hang around the school geek squad, though a part of him simply wants to break free for a bit and to actually live life. This is when the girl who is house sitting next door introduces herself, and he suddenly find himself being dragged into the shady world of adult entertainment.
It was suggested that this film borrows heavily from Risky Business, and they certainly aren't wrong at all in that regards, except that Risky Business has a much darker feel to it, and is a much, much better film (despite the fact that I'm not particularly keen on Tom Cruise). I guess Risky Business explores the nature of Teenage Angst so much better than this one does, namely in the way that it is put together. This one feels so much brighter and happier, even though there are parts where you squirm because you suspect that nothing good is going to come out of it (though they always succeed in the end).
I'm still a bit confused about the whole scene in the bank though, where he comes to withdrawal the money to bring a Cambodian Student over to the United States to study only to find that the pimp - I mean producer - has got there before him. The reality is that it was not his fault that the bank teller was conned, and that the person to blame would have been her - why she was going to the manager to inform him that she had stuffed up is beyond me - her job would certainly be on the line. However, the more I think about it, the more I realise that she is bullying and threatening him to protect her own butt, and that being an inexperienced teenager means that she would certainly be getting away with it. Personally, I would call her bluff, but then again I'm much older, and a lot more experienced, than he is.
Mind you, this film certainly did have some interesting twists and turns, especially the video that they made at the end, though I don't want to say any more about it because, well, that is a huge spoiler. In fact, one of the great things about this film is that they dropped some hints that there was going to be something special at the end, and they threw a curve ball making you think that it was one thing, but it turned out to be another. Sure, it certainly is not on the level of Risky Business, but in a way it was still good, especially since there were some pretty gut wrenching parts where I would certainly be squirming, thinking that things were about to go really pear shaped.
The other thing is that I feel that this film would be a little dated, especially in the age of internet porn. Yeah, when this was made, porn actresses were considered to be the best of the best, and to be dating one would raise a teenager to the heights of manliness. These days pretty much anybody can become a porn actor, so the charm just doesn't seem to be there. Then again, I am much older and wiser so I'm probably looking at things a little different once again.
However, as I said, it's just another one of those films that explores the nature of teenage angst, particularly with regards to the smart kid who may not be mega popular, but still wants to at least have some fun, and that sometimes throwing caution to the wind is actually something that can be quite beneficial.
So, as I mentioned, this film is about this High School student who happens to also be school president, and has been accepted into Georgetown University. Also, he happens to hang around the school geek squad, though a part of him simply wants to break free for a bit and to actually live life. This is when the girl who is house sitting next door introduces herself, and he suddenly find himself being dragged into the shady world of adult entertainment.
It was suggested that this film borrows heavily from Risky Business, and they certainly aren't wrong at all in that regards, except that Risky Business has a much darker feel to it, and is a much, much better film (despite the fact that I'm not particularly keen on Tom Cruise). I guess Risky Business explores the nature of Teenage Angst so much better than this one does, namely in the way that it is put together. This one feels so much brighter and happier, even though there are parts where you squirm because you suspect that nothing good is going to come out of it (though they always succeed in the end).
I'm still a bit confused about the whole scene in the bank though, where he comes to withdrawal the money to bring a Cambodian Student over to the United States to study only to find that the pimp - I mean producer - has got there before him. The reality is that it was not his fault that the bank teller was conned, and that the person to blame would have been her - why she was going to the manager to inform him that she had stuffed up is beyond me - her job would certainly be on the line. However, the more I think about it, the more I realise that she is bullying and threatening him to protect her own butt, and that being an inexperienced teenager means that she would certainly be getting away with it. Personally, I would call her bluff, but then again I'm much older, and a lot more experienced, than he is.
Mind you, this film certainly did have some interesting twists and turns, especially the video that they made at the end, though I don't want to say any more about it because, well, that is a huge spoiler. In fact, one of the great things about this film is that they dropped some hints that there was going to be something special at the end, and they threw a curve ball making you think that it was one thing, but it turned out to be another. Sure, it certainly is not on the level of Risky Business, but in a way it was still good, especially since there were some pretty gut wrenching parts where I would certainly be squirming, thinking that things were about to go really pear shaped.
The other thing is that I feel that this film would be a little dated, especially in the age of internet porn. Yeah, when this was made, porn actresses were considered to be the best of the best, and to be dating one would raise a teenager to the heights of manliness. These days pretty much anybody can become a porn actor, so the charm just doesn't seem to be there. Then again, I am much older and wiser so I'm probably looking at things a little different once again.
However, as I said, it's just another one of those films that explores the nature of teenage angst, particularly with regards to the smart kid who may not be mega popular, but still wants to at least have some fun, and that sometimes throwing caution to the wind is actually something that can be quite beneficial.