Title: The Virginity Hit
Studio/Distributor: Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures Entertainment/Gary Sanchez Productions
Genre: Comedy
Cast: Matt Bennett, Zack Pearlman, Jacob Davich, Justin Kline, Krysta Rodriguez, Nicole Weaver, Harry Zittel, Savannah Welch, Seth Barrish, Tina Parker, Sunny Leone, Daniel Weber, John McLeish, Ramona Tyler, Bernard Hocke.
Director(s): Andrew Garland & Huck Botko
Writer(s): Andrew Garland & Huck Botko
MPAA Rating: R (strong crude and sexual content, nudity, pervasive language, drug and alcohol use)
Synopsis: Three friends record their fourth comrade’s attempts at losing his virginity, which leads to awkward and disasterous results.
Bottom Line: During the last few years of the 2000s, the world began to experience a viral video boom. Whether it was seeing a music superstar in the making or seeing someone pull a prank on their friend or family member or animal tricks. Whatever was happening, it was on video and it hits the internet. This film crosses that part of our culture with the culture of teen sex comedies. When I first saw the trailer for “The Virginity Hit”, I thought that this was an interesting concept: combining the teen movie with viral video style of filmmaking. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find it in my local movie theater and neither did anyone else for that matter, due to a limited run in theaters. In spite of having the Funny or Die/Gary Sanchez Productions team of Will Ferrell, Adam McKay & Chris Henchy, it’s not as over-the-top as “Anchorman”, “Talladega Nights” or “The Other Guys” but that’s the appeal of the movie. It’s grounded in reality but still funny as hell. The story follows four friends who have a tradition: anyone who loses their virginity must take a hit on a bong that’s sculpted in the form of a naked woman, but there is one who has yet to take a hit and lose his virginity: Matt (Bennett). Matt wants everything to be special for when he loses it to his girlfriend Nicole (Weaver) and his friends Zack & Jacob (Pearlman & Davich) cheer him on while Zack records it all on video. However, prior to the big night, Matt hears rumors of Nicole’s infidelity but he ventures on with the task at hand. This is where things take a turn for the embarrassing. Matt has his nerves get the best of him by not only going to the bathroom twice but also revealing that Zack, Jacob, Matt’s adoptive sister Krysta (Rodriguez) and a small audience was evasdropping in the next hotel room. After that, Nicole clears up the cheating rumor and breaks up with Matt while her father shoves him into a bush (that moment is recorded on camera and shown on YouTube, much to Matt’s dismay). What follows soon after is a series of attempts to have Matt lose his V-card once and for all, including meeting a 25-year old who actually uses Matt for an embarassing college thesis test and an attempt to have adult film star Sunny Leone (played by herself) be Matt’s first, which ends with surprising results. “The Virginity Hit” is the teen comedy of the YouTube generation. It’s not plagued by cliches or an overkill of crude jokes. Instead, it has enough heart to make it more appealling than recent teen movies and the fact it’s more relatable to anyone who’s been through those crazy times in their adolescene, no matter what generation you were born in. Some might not think too highly of this film in the future but this is a one-of-a-kind teen movie that’s revelant with the times.