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Porn to Lose

Trey Chic: Captain Orgazmo (Trey Parker) fights lusty crime in 'Orgazmo.' Bob Akester A Mormon becomes a smut-fighting superhero in porn spoof By Karen Reardanz MAINTAINING A SENSE of innocence in a porn industry spoof is no simple feat. But Trey Parker, half of the creative team that brings South Park to the telly every week, has managed to create a flick that's rude and crude while keeping its heart intact. An admittedly sophomoric spoof of porn films, kung-fu flicks and kitschy '60s TV shows, Orgazmo is 100 percent silliness that, while hovering at a 12-year-old mental level, manages to dish up a surprising amount of amusingly original shtick. Joe Young (played by Parker, who also wrote and directed the farce) is a Mormon doing a few weeks of missionary work in Hollywood. He winds up preaching the gospel to some henchmen of skin-flick guru Maxxx Orbison (Michael Dean Jacobs), impresses the producer with his mastery of martial arts and ends up the latest sensation in the porn world. His superhero porn persona, Captain Orgazmo, and his sextoy-slinging sidekick, Choda Boy (Dian Bachar, looking unnervingly like a hybrid of the two main characters from Doogie Howser, M.D.), fight lusty crime with their Orgazmatron, a RoboCop-esque weapon that paralyzes bad guys with superstrong orgasms. Captain Orgazmo becomes a huge hit (even making the cover of Time), creating instant stardom for our wayward hero, and from here, the plot (what little there is of it) quickly meanders into further silliness, bringing the crime-fighting duo into real life, pitting them against their evil porn producer and wreaking havoc on the L.A. streets with their real Orgazmatron. Parker is endearing as the mighty Joe Young, maintaining his Mormon-fueled ethics while rubbing, uh, elbows with the seedy underbelly of the porn world. The rest of the cast (including a fair share of porn star regulars) hams it up. While not for the faint of the heart, compared to the over-the-top antics of There's Something About Mary, Orgazmo seems surprisingly low-key. Sure, there are plenty of fart jokes and a ton of ribald humor, but with the volatile combination of a South Park mastermind and a Mormon-meets-porn-industry plot, one would expect the lewdness to be flying. But the film is so cartoonish that it winds up looking and feeling more like a naughty version of the old Batman series. No, Orgazmo is not going to wind up an Academy Awards contender, nor will it top any box-office charts, but does the phrase "cult favorite" ring a bell? Mark my words, this film is going to make a killing in midnight screenings for years to come. Orgazmo (R; 85 min.) Written and directed by Trey Parker and starring Parker, Michael Dean Jacobs, Dian Bachar and Robyn Lynne Raab. [ San Jose | Metroactive Central | Archives ]