Booty Call (1997) from Johnny Web (Uncle Scoopy; Greg Wroblewski)
The situations in this lowbrow comedy are predictable and mostly carry-overs from old episodes of I Love Lucy, somewhat updated to modern times. To give you the general idea:
  • doctors mix up two patients' charts, and prepare to remove the testicles of the wrong guy (our hero)
  • two couples play footsie, and the two men end up rubbing each others' feet
On the other hand, the verbal humor is fresh. It's mostly trash talk, and a lot of it is laugh-out-loud funny.

The essence of the plot is that a woman has been holding off from having sex with her boyfriend for seven weeks. She even insists on a double date to help keep things on a less intimate basis, but the other couple gets steamy, then our young lovers end up getting steamy, and the guys have to keep interrupting their sex in order to chase after the perfect condoms, makeshift dental dams, runaway dogs, and what have you.  

NUDITY REPORT
male: Tommy Davidson's butt

female: none, but Vivica Fox is seen almost topless - except for pasties!

DVD info from Amazon.

  • Widescreen anamorphic, 1.85:1, with a full screen version as well

  • no meaningful features
Although set decoration is not the reason why one watches a lowbrow sex comedy, I do want to pay some tribute to the art design in this film, because somebody gave a lot of thought to giving this film a slick and hip look. Some of the scenes look great, especially the interior shots in the girls' apartments, and the outdoor nighttime scenes in Chinatown with the colored brightly-lit steam. 

Oddly enough for a lowbrow comedy, the film was not especially popular with audiences, but was appreciated by several critics, including some of the top ones.

The Critics Vote

  • General consensus: two and a half stars. Ebert 3/4, Berardinelli 2.5/4, Maltin 2/4

  • Rotten Tomatoes summary. 67% positive overall,  67% from the top critics. (Only 6 reviews)

The People Vote ...

  • With their votes ... IMDB summary: IMDb voters score it 5.2. a rare case of a lowbrow comedy more popular with critics than viewers
  • With their dollars ... it wasn't a smash, hit, but it took in $20 million domestic 1200 screens. 
IMDb guideline: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence, about like three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, about like two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, about like two stars from the critics. Films under five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film, equivalent to about one and a half stars from the critics or less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

My own guideline: A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. C means it will only appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover appeal. D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre. F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well.

Based on this description, this film is a C. Some hilarious verbal exchanges make it worth a watch, even though the situations are repetitious and somehow too familiar.

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