The Virginity Hit (www.the-usher.com)

"Turn off the camera"

With Zack (Pearlman), Jacob (Davich) and Justin (Kline) all passing into manhood, only Matt (Bennett) remains and Zack has decided to chronicle the days running up the moment he loses his virginity. With Matt having planned everything to be perfect for him and his girlfriend Becca (Welch), nothing can go wrong but when a rumour starts to spread that Becca has already lost her virginity at a College party, Matt goes into meltdown and it is up to Zack, Jacob and Justin to help him out.

Your whole life can now be lived and shared with people online and as the current teenage generation embrace the social network phenomenon, can a feature film do the same thing?

Gone are the days when if you wanted to film yourself or document an event in your life, you could only show the footage to close friends or family. Since the escalation of upload and download speeds on the internet and the influx of Social Networking websites, you can now quite literally ‘Broadcast Yourself’. ‘YouTube’ has become part of everyday language and it has given the world the chance to post videos of anything, within reason, and budding filmmakers the chance to document and share everything. The question is however, is can you make a motion picture about doing just that?

Producers and ‘Funny or Die’ website aficionados Will Ferrell and Adam McKay have got together with writers/directors Huck Botko and Andrew Gurland to try and put a narrative to YouTube uploads. Here we have four life long friends, three of whom have lost their virginity, leaving only Matt and he has a plan. After been with his girlfriend for over two years, the time has come for them both to make that next step and he wants everything to be perfect. Planning the day to the ninth degree, his best friends decide to document the event as Matt takes that step into manhood. Of course, even the best laid plans can go completely wrong but it is the series of events that follow that make the movie far too over the top to be realistic.

Taking a huge helping of ‘American Pie’, throwing in some ‘Superbad’ and a sprinkling of modern technology, Botko and Gurland have tried to do something original but fallen into predictability. Using the handheld, camcorder approach is nothing new, with the characters using the camera as a documentary tool but it is the clichéd and predictable storyline that really lets the film down. The criminal act however is the complete lack of laugh-out-loud moments, with the film only ever managing to raise a slight smile.

The highlight of the film is the enthusiasm of the young cast. Matt Bennett, Zack Pearlman, Jacob Davich, Justin Kline, Krysta Rodriguez, Nicole Weaver and Savannah Welch all have little to no acting experience but come across as genuine friends and believable characters. It is just a shame that a better, more raucous script was not available for them to push their burgeoning talents further.

‘The Virginity Hit’ is a missed opportunity. A good young cast are let down by an unoriginal and lazy story that needed a little more work to showcase what the interesting ‘Broadcast Yourself’ premise could have produced.

Commentary with Filmmakers' and Cast: Commentary includes-Actors Matt Bennett & Zack Pearlman, Writers/Directors Huck Botko & Andrew Gurland and Executive Producer Owen Burke.
Jersey Girl Featurette: Actress Nicole Weaver takes us inside her day job at TGI Fridays in New Jersey.
Line-O-Rama
Screen Test with Matt and Zack
Zack's Online Audition for FunnyorDie: Zack tells a story of his sister walking in on him while he is masturbating

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2011