Some fifteen years ago, my then-teenage nephew coaxed my sister into renting this for him and after dinner we plunked it into the VCR. Ten minutes later my mother declared it "UNSPEAKABLY VULGAR" and stomped out of the room while uttering dire warnings about the fate of those who exposed themselves to such purile material. Well, Mother was right: it is purile, maybe even to the point of being unspeakably vulgar! But it's also a lot of fun. The plot is lightweight: a group of sex-crazed Florida highschool boys desperate to lose their virginity try to do precisely that by visiting Porky's, a swamp-water red-neck brothel and general den of inquity. When they get robbed and beaten up by Porky and his minions, they plot an elaborate revenge that is... well... sure to bring down the house!
The plot is really just the string that holds together a series of elaborate practical jokes--the sort of jokes you always heard about when you were a kid and wondered if any one ever really could pull them off. The largely no-name cast, especially Dan Monahan (Pee Wee, so named for his, er, shortcomings), Kaki Hunter (Wendy, the highschool floozie), and Nancy Parsons (Beulah Balbricker, the Godzilla of girls' gymn teachers), play it with an engagingly light touch--and somehow manage to give it an aura of innocence that adds to the movie's charm.
The film drags a bit due to the script's well-intentioned but ho-hum subplot concerning the racism a Jewish boy encounters at Angel Beach High School, but that aside the comic episodes are a laugh riot--and it's impossible to describe them without giving the fun away. There's Cherry Forever, the discovery of why Miss Honeywell is called "Lassie," the truly hilarious and infamous girls' shower scene and its aftermath in the principal's office... just one after another, thick and fast. It will never make any critic's shortlist, but if you're looking for mindless lunacy done with a youthful innocence, PORKY'S may just be the film you're looking for. The DVD has near-zip in the way of extras, and although it is offered here in pan-and-scan there are widescreen prints available. Recommended for that rainy afternoon when you want to remember what you wished your teenage years were like!
