Porky’s (1981)

Directed by Bob Clark. Starring Dan Monahan, Wyatt Knight, Mark Herrier, Roger Wilson, Cyril O’Reilly, Scott Colomby, Boyd Gaines, Tony Ganios, Nancy Parsons, Kaki Hunter, Chuck Mitchell, Kim Cattrall, Eric Christmas, Doug McGrath, Alex Karras, Art Hindle. [R]

Smarmy, sexist hijinks among a group of horny high school boys played by actors who all look like they’re in their mid-twenties, none of whom had substantial acting careers after this for good reason. They’re all out to get laid in whatever way possible, so they go to the local strip club of the title and get humiliated and accosted by the owner and his sibling sheriff—it’s payback time! Like most horndog raunch-fests, the story barely matters (or exists), but every setup or payoff is either lame or predictable, as in the movie’s best-known scene where some of the boys peep into the girls’ shower. As if the ultra-lowbrow sex and potty humor weren’t weak enough, the filmmakers also use casually hateful racism/antisemitism as comedy fodder to witless results. The very, very few amusing moments (e.g. butch, ill-tempered gym teacher Coach Balbricker demanding a lineup of, erm, male genitalia) are defeated by the sort of coarse smuttiness and interchangeable non-characterizations that make its most obvious inspirations (Animal House, Meatballs) come off like Lubitsch or Wilder. Nevertheless, it unaccountably became a huge box office hit, and spawned a few sequels.

23/100