National Lampoon Presents Barely Legal (2003) from Tuna

This is yet another High School gross-out comedy. It was originally called After School Special in the final shooting script, and premiered at Cannes in 2003. Two years later, it went straight to vid in Germany, and had a minimal US theatrical release (20 screens) in October of 2005 before heading to Region 1 DVD in January of 2006.

It is about three nearly-cool High School nerds, still virgins, who make a good living duping and selling porn to freshmen. Deacon Lewis (Erik von Detten) shit his pants in 5th grade, and nobody will ever let him forget it. Fred (Tony Denman) is painfully shy around girls, and masturbates six or seven times a day. Matt (Daniel Farber), the nerdiest of the three, is a wannabe film maker. The porn profits are set aside for their dream of getting a car and becoming babe magnets. When Deacon doesn't get the car he expected for his 17th birthday, and Fred loses his job at the video store, thus killing their source of free porn, they decide to make their own porn film slanted towards people like themselves, namely virgin nerds.

Their main problem is finding performers. Creating a phony ID on their computer, the three go to a strip club looking for a female lead. My guess is that the Pretty Kitty was an actual strip club, and a very fancy one at that, where they find their leading lady in the person of Ashley (Sarah Jane Potts). Ashley is "19, but tells everyone she is 18" and wants a career in porn. She sees this film as a way to produce a demo reel which she can show to real porn studios.

Of course, there are various obstacles to success. The local Stifler character (of course we need a Stifler character) forces the nerds to make him the leading man, but he does not prove up to the task. One of the nerds stops being a virgin, and his new girlfriend nearly breaks up the film company. The local porn maker, clearly meant to represent Ron Jeremy, is after their hides for cutting into his business. Finally, their enterprise is also in constant danger of discovery by their parents.

The film completely escaped the notice of critics in its brief theatrical run, and IMDb comments are split between "worst film ever made," and "funnier than American Pie." As you might guess, the truth lies between those extremes. It's not without flaws. The whole thing ends rather predictably, and nothing particularly surprising happens in the entire film, but I found much to like.

  • The DVD includes extended versions of the three major nude scenes, clearly demonstrating that the producers understood the major appeal of this offering.
  • Potts was skilled enough to have a completely different character when acting in the porno and when not on camera.
  • The male characters in the film are all over-the-top, but they kind of worked anyway.
  • Some of the situations were amusing, and I even got one belly laugh caused by impeccable timing rather than a novel idea.
  • The visual style of the film was better than normal for this genre, and they used every chance to insert little jokes.

I have been highly critical of many recent National Lampoon offerings, but I found this one acceptable

 

DVD INFO to the left

NUDITY REPORT

  • Tammy Morris, as a porn actress, shows breasts.

  • Several unknowns also show breasts and buns both in the porn film and the strip club.

  • Sarah Jane Potts shows breasts in several scenes, but always covered by transparent lingerie, nearly transparent tape over her nipples, or her hands. Neither the lingerie nor the tape leave anything to the imagination and, with the other breast exposure, the film was heading for R anyway, so the pseudo-modesty was likely driven by a no-nudity clause in her contract.

The Critics Vote ...

  • No major reviews online.

The People Vote ...

  • It was released into twenty theaters, grossing $26,000.
The meaning of the IMDb score: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence equivalent to about three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, comparable to approximately two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, equivalent to about a two star rating from the critics, or a C- from our system. Films rated below five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film - this score is roughly equivalent to one and a half stars from the critics or a D on our scale. (Possibly even 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. (C+ means it has no crossover appeal, but will be considered excellent by genre fans, while C- indicates that it we found it to be a poor movie although genre addicts find it watchable). 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. Any film rated C- or better is recommended for fans of that type of film. Any film rated B- or better is recommended for just about anyone. We don't score films below C- that often, because we like movies and we think that most of them have at least a solid niche audience. Now that you know that, you should have serious reservations about any movie below C-.

Based on this description, it's a C. I am a fan of these raunchy teen comedies, and found this one perfectly acceptable.

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