American Virgin (2000)

This film features the daughter of a porn magnate with a boy friend she once trusted who appears to have strayed from the straight path of love. In a mixture of despair and retaliation she agrees to be the first star (victim?) on a new TV series which once every month will feature a virgin experiencing her first sexual liaison on camera. The film creates a parody of pornographic movie makers interested only in the audience such a program will achieve, and this is deliberately exaggerated to the point of being grossly overdrawn. Ultimately, it culminates in a pure slapstick sequence where the boy friend manages to penetrate her dressing room on the eve of the performance and convince her that he did not stray in the way she thought - she then tells the producers of the show that she is quitting, with the obvious results. The film ends after the TV connections have been severed by a sword leaving the happy couple able to consummate their liaison in relative peace. This parody of the porn industry displays promoters trying to bring their new series to screen in a very unkind light, whilst simultaneously providing some quite sharp satire. I did not feel it was as bad as some of the IMDb User Comments suggest; but the aim of the film makers appears to have been simply to create easily achieved comedy sequences - not to make a film with any social significance - and as a result much of this satire can readily be lost leaving a very cheap and tawdry residue..Ultimately I felt the film trivialised a serious issue, aiming to succeed as a comedy rather than to achieve any recognition for dealing with an issue of real social concern. Some of it was fun to watch, but much of the rest was (fortunately) very forgettable. The subject matter could have been treated much more realistically by, for example, introducing public reactions to the proposed TV series. Newspaper reviews could have been shown which on the one hand commended the proposed new series as contributing to the new attitude towards sexual freedom, and on the other condemned the TV channel concerned for further unjustified exploitation of the difficulties young people may experience in establishing worthwhile long-term relationships. These could have been augmented by featuring letters to the editor from fictional individuals with pre-determined viewpoints. Instead we had only cartoon level reactions to very extreme behaviour exhibited by cartoon type characters, which were mostly not worth watching.My final assessment is that this film provided a classic example of a lost opportunity; and that, despite its challenging subject matter, it is unfortunately not worth more than an IMDb rating of 2 out of 10.

Just when you thought that throw-away movies couldn't possibly get any worse, along comes 'American Virgin'. 'Virgin' is simply a shameless piece of trash. The filmmakers know it and for that reason they changed the title of the movie from 'Live Virgin' to 'American Virgin' in order to cash in on Mena Suvari's success ('American Beauty' and 'American Pie'). I feel bad for the poor sap who'll buy this crap expecting to see something like the two aforementioned films.This movie is just downright terrible on all levels. One only has to look at the idiotic plot involving Mena Suvari as the daughter of a porn director (Robert Loggia) who agrees to lose her virginity onscreen just to spite her father. To add further insult to an already lame plot, while Suvari's character is losing her virginity, many paying customers will be participating in the event via a virtual sex machine. Hell and I haven't even got to the talk-show scene that even Jerry Springer wouldn't admire, the subplot involving Suvari's geek boyfriend, and the annoying loudmouth antics of the two porn directors. As far as disposable movies go, this one is roadkill.Rating: (2/10) or (0 stars)

I found the movie smart and funny. Sally Kellerman is a riot as a cynical talk show host as well as all the other characters that were right on the money. I read 2 articles by New York Times critic Stephen Holden about the picture quite interresting particularly one called:"Satire is dying for our sins". In the latter he calls the film a party pooper for today's hypocritical mentalities which refuse criticism even if it is done in a light, entertaining fashion. Hoskin, Loggia and Mena Suvari are hysterical and the dancing scene with Alexandra Wentworth is probably the funniest thing I have ever seen.

I sat down to watch American Virgin and thought to myself..."Oh, man! This movie is going to be so lame." Man, I was so wrong! This movie was so funny I was in stiches on the floor. I was so impressed with this movie. The acting was great, and it had a funny story connected to it. And if you know something about porn stars, you'll see a lot of them! I think anyone will enjoy this movie! RENT IT!