Good Girl Goes Porn in Steamy Sitcom Coming to DVD
Aspiring director Jody Balaban (Leelee Sobieski) has just graduated from NYU film school, and is headed west fully expecting to launch a promising Hollywood career. But despite her having won an award for the best student film, she has a hard time getting a studio exec to take a serious look at the script she's written and is ready to turn into a full-length feature.
In fact, the only directing job she manages to land in L.A. is directing traffic, so, against her better judgment, she decides to accept a position in the porn industry, no, not as an actress, but as the protégé of skin flick director Jeff Drake (Matthew Davis) hoping that she'll be able to use his facilities afterhours to shoot and edit her own legitimate production.
However, the prudish preppie's plans go awry once she starts find herself not only falling in love with the boss, but even secretly enjoying salacious scenes from his latest opus, Charlie's Anals. And, as it turns out, Jeff is also an NYU alum who disappointed his family by not following in his father's footsteps by becoming a doctor.
Will Jody and Jeff couple-up, or will she develop cold feet over the fact that most folks consider his profession sort of scummy? That is the pivotal question left to be addressed in Finding Bliss, a romantic comedy written and directed by Julie Davis. No stranger to controversy, you may remember Ms. Davis' previous picture, the equally-iconoclastic Amy's Orgasm.
My primary issue with this new offering has to do with her casting so many actual porn stars, such as Ron Jeremy and Mr. Marcus. That sort of makes you scratch your head and wonder exactly what type of movie we're dealing with. Even comedian Jamie Kennedy gets into the act, appearing totally nude, sporting a semi-erect penis for a lingering full-frontal sequence. Yikes!
As unsavory as the setting probably sounds, Finding Bliss is otherwise fairly-conventional and convincing, given how earnestly leads Leelee Sobieski and Matthew Davis throw themselves into their lead roles. They create some credible screen chemistry while Denise Richards and Kristen Johnston turn in decent support performances.
A steamy sitcom which could have benefitted immeasurably from less carnality in favor of character development. Finding flesh!
Good (2 stars)
Rated R for full frontal nudity, profanity, graphic sexuality and explicit dialogue.
Running time: 96 Minutes
Studio: Phase 4 Films
DVD Extras: Deleted scenes, extended scenes and a theatrical trailer.
To order a copy of Finding Bliss on DVD, visit: B003M05KU0
To see a trailer for Finding Bliss, visit:
Kam Williams is a syndicated film and book critic who writes for 100+ publications. He is a member of the New York Film Critics Online, the African-American Film Critics Association, and the NAACP Image Awards Nominating Committee. Contact him through NewsBlaze.
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