Introduction
In 2012, Scott Wheeler directed an erotic comedy film titled Celebrity Sex Tape, which was produced by The Asylum, a studio infamous for their low-budget theatrical films. The film attempts to study society’s obsession with celebrity culture and the extreme lengths people are willing to go for a taste of fame. Celebrity Sex Tape parodies the rampant fame through scandal in the age of the internet by centering the plot around college students who accidentally become embroiled in adult entertainment due to a viral video.
While the premise suggests sharp satire commentary on culture and voyeurism, its execution adopts a more slapstick, raunchy, and outrageous approach. The flimsy plot of Celebrity Sex Tape results in a half-hearted attempt at satire and soft-core farce, something which has divided the audiences who watched it.
Mixing social discomfort with eagerness, Ross Gans, Ed, Marcus, Kwan, and Doug are a set of college students trying to chase after a certain goal.
The quirky members include the nerd, the sidekick, the arrogant skeptic, and the pervy egotist. Taking the aspiring undertakers along with their targets. Things magically come together when the cinco record a celebrity’s sexual encounter that is later uploaded and turns into high traffic.
Despite getting unfavorable views, they manage to spin the table to provide the celebrity a career boom. This turns Gans along with the celebrity spawning for some far fetched ideas hoping integrated ‘s-chicks’ have a higher chance. The once wanted and ever-abused interns planning stepping stones to document more indifferent celebrity ‘shoulders’ aimed to reactivate dazed nostalgiac needs from washed up stars.
Once holidaying in this amateurally crafty upside down design the entire crew soon enter some absurd contract angle and facing millionaire wannabe fools who propel the boys into fragile relationships. Fame, along with the peak through, becomes a maze filled with branches.
While Ross is getting infatuated with Kim, a woman who is smart, grounded, and unyielding to Ross’s antics. She makes severe ethical critiques on his logic and lays bare the pitfalls in the group’s newfound mission. As his viral glory obsession competes with his emerging conscience, driven by instantaneous gratification, Ross wrestles with whether to go viral or retain his self-respect.
Cast & Characters
Jack Cullison as Ross Gans – The main character, Ross is an internet hopeful and fame-obsessed college student. A bit out of touch with reality, yet driven.
Jonathan Brett as Ed – The group’s computer guru who sets their whole venture in motion by uploading the initial video.
Colbert Alembert as Marcus – The reluctant participant who serves as the group’s soundboard. Getty leaves questioning the plan but comes along to see what happens.
Howard Cai as Kwan – The participant whose eccentricity serves as the group’s humor, the clown with wildest and most absurd suggestions.
Andre Meadows as Doug – The most enthusiastic of them all, Doug is the first to propose monetizing the controversy, in pursuit of notoriety.
Julie Barzman as Kim – The moral anchor of the group’s operations, Ross’s partner and love interest.
Alex Arleo will play as Delaney with hopes to become a successful producer. He is a rival of the group’s success and aims to benefit from their achievements.
Gina, the role which will be performed by Jenny Lin, is an aspiring actress who becomes a victim of the group’s distasteful plans.
Ed Callison will play as Buck Hollister, an over-the-hill impotent star of reality television. His vulnerability due to his stardom makes him the ideal first subject for the group’s idea.
Diana Terranova’s role will be as Lexa, a cunning agent dealing on both sides of the market with her private agenda.
Production Details
Its mockumentary style is difficult to enjoy due to the rest of the production being bogged down by cheap effects and green screen.
Weaknesses aside, the concepts presented within the film are comedic and value the chaos.
Couple that with the signature American lowbrow humor and immaturity we’ve come to expect from Asylum films, and it could offer mild entertainment to some viewers.
Tags and Ideas
Lesbian sex, transgender women, and the superficiality of online social platforms, as portrayed in Celebrity Sex Tape highlights the extremities the filmmakers went to in an effort to showcase their ideals. Ultimately, the purpose of the film was to portray society’s love for scandal as a milestone for achieving relevancy.
The idea of a sex tape can elevate an average person into fame and attention, but if released in the wrong hands, it could also destroy the reputation of well known stars. Because of this, it is logical for people to ask, “What wouldn’t individuals do for a couple million views?” The film tends to target the audience and try to explain the shortage of critical thought as well as intuition directed towards pop culture.
In Celebrity Sex Tape, the portrayal of exploitative features of online entertainment is not a hidden agenda. The filmmakers meticulously highlight how privacy is sold off in the name of entertainment.
Ultimately, an attempt to showcase a smart critique leads to endless crude jokes, lack of intended character development, and over the top sexual gags, compromising the message. Instead of giving the audience that level of social criticism they aimed to reach, they are critiqued with black humor that overshadows the intelligent commentary that aims to be made.
Reception
The movie was panned by critics. Viewers seem to agree with the critics as Celebrity Sex Tape boasts a 2.9 rating on IMDb. Reviewers claimed the film was overly focused on poor quality juvenile humor and substandard acting devoid of any coherent plot structure. The critics also pointed out that the film was unable to blend its comedic and satirical intentions, culminating in a work that was half baked on humor and analysis.
Celebrity Sex Tape has received a significant amount of backlash, but The Asylum’s cult-like fans enjoy the film because of its underlying “so bad it’s good” charm. For some, the film is enjoyable in a way that becomes shameful to admit, while die hard indie comedy fans see it as an outright example of what happens when potential is squandered.
Conclusion
Celebrity Sex Tape feels like a film that wants to have a message, and in hindsight, might even have had one, but lacked any form of cohesive strategy to execute it. By focusing on themes such as capitalism, capitalism, erosion of privacy, and manipulation by the media, the film could have created a sophisticated satire that is as relevant today as it is timeless. Instead, the end result is a disorganized concoction of slapstick humor, nudity, and a shallow story with no heart or deep-rooted reasoning.
In the end, the film might attract an audience craving cheap exuberant comedy, but to the larger population, it seems to be another case of superficial creativity best known for its name rather than its content. Even so, it encapsulates the early 2010s in an attempt to capture a time hungry for viral fame, wishing to achieve it while dreading the resulting chaos.
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