Kayt R

Nude Bowling Party is not a good film. Plot, lighting, and character development are almost ignored altogether. And, as a film that was obviously created to display female nudity, it is not even mildly titillating. However, that being said, it is a fun film with a strange sense of integrity and self-mockery. I recommend it for casual gatherings of friends in search of something to bond together and ridicule.

Most nude sporting videos involve a sport backdrop (say golf) for small scenes of soft-core pornography.rarely are the games actually played. Nude Bowling Party is different; the participants bowl ten frames. They bowl poorly, and they look rather absurd wearing only socks and bowling rent-a-shoes, but they are trying. On the rare occasion that a pin is felled they jump up and down in a manner that conveys both mirth, and pain. This is half the fun. Everyone on the set seems to be having fun; no one sports the common soft-core look of boredom and drugs.

In addition to the actual game, mock commercials add a level of self-mockery and humor. These half-clad lassies pitch for faux law firms and foot deodorizers. Its not DADA, but it is more than mildly surreal.

By the end of viewing this film my friends and I were cheering for our prospective teams.

Oh, and do look for Ivan Raimi.Sam Raimi's lesser-known brother.

And, as the credits suggest, ask for the novelization at finer bookstores.

To face a script in which most of the plot revolves around the dialogue of only two people in one location must be terrifying. Thank goodness for Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart. John Huston's adaptation of C.S. Forester's The African Queen was solid. And the decision to film on location in Africa helped develop the concept of nature as a viable character within the plot helps solidify the film. But without Katharine Hepburn, and Humphry Bogart, this film could have been reduced to a nice little travelog on the beauty and terror of African and the pretty animals living there. Within The African Queen each character undergoes metamorphosis. Charlie Alnutt grows from an apathetic man who enjoys the inside of a bottle, to a courageous man. Rosie in turn allows herself to be human, and vulnerable perhaps for the first time in her life. With lesser actors these changes would have appeared rushed, unexplained,and a dull beginning to an inexplicable romance. But it isn't. It's a captivating film. Rosie's brittle smile, Charlie's face as his vices are destroyed, these are moments of brilliance in an incredible film. I highly recommend it.

It's also worth noting that this was not an easy film to make. These performances survived crew and cast illnesses, constant mechanical errors and inclement weather. For more about the conditions it was created under, I suggest you read Katherine Hepburn's The Making of The African Queen or How I went to Africa with Bogart, Bacall and Huston and almost lost my mind. She's not the sanest author in the world, but all the more enjoyable.