LastingAware
The greatest movie ever!
ClassyWas
Excellent, smart action film.
Arianna Moses
Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.
G K
This is not an easy film to review. On the one hand, The Last American Virgin is an obvious cash grab. It's a teen comedy with plenty of female nudity, something that was seemingly popular with audiences back in the early-1980s. This not only speaks about the ongoing degeneration of Western culture but also about what people generally enjoy watching now - mainly nudity, horror and fantasy. So, The Last American Virgin sort of follows the Porky's (1981) formula, but with considerably less style and imagination. I'm thinking that the title too was chosen simply to attract male viewers. And don't forget about those jeans with an open zipper on the film's poster. On the other hand, the two leading actors, Lawrence Monoson and Diane Franklin, deliver good performances, especially in scenes dealing with love and heartbreak. The coming-of-age drama featuring their characters is like a different film within this film. The cast is made up mostly of Jewish-American actors, and director Boaz Davidson is from Israel. The Last American Virgin is a remake of Davidson's 1978 film Lemon Popsicle. Davidson teamed up with Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus of Cannon Films to get The Last American Virgin made and released in the USA. By the way, Cannon Films is best known for releasing several cheesy patriotic action flicks starring Chuck Norris in the 1980s. And so, if you're an adult like me (I'm a young adult) and you get to watch The Last American Virgin, you'll notice that something isn't quite right with this film. And I'm not talking about the not-so-good direction by Davidson. I'm talking about the behavior of the characters and the situations they get into. These characters just don't behave like American teens. This is made clear by the fact that Davidson also wrote the screenplay. What might have looked familiar to an Israeli audience, looks odd to me (I'm Canadian by the way). And I kept thinking that the behavior of these supposedly American teens is intense or strange. It's no wonder that film critic Geoff Andrews called this film "sickening junk." But when this film isn't showing us a group of young men desperately trying to get into the pants of young women or a prostitute, it's showing us one of those young men longing for a beautiful transfer student. How about that? Also, I couldn't believe it when I saw Diane Franklin. I kept thinking that she is too good-looking to be in this film. She has little to say, but her performance is clearly one of the best. When talking about The Last American Virgin, people often mention the soundtrack. The decision to include popular new wave rock songs from that time period was clearly made to appeal to an American teen audience. But these songs aren't used to good effect in the film. Some of them don't even fit the scene. So, given all this, is The Last American Virgin worth recommending? In my opinion, it's not worth recommending. I'd say that it's one of the worst teen movies of the 1980s. It's entertaining, but that's one of the few good things that I can say about it. It's not worth watching even if you're interested in American '80s culture because only the setting and the actors are American.
martin-intercultural
What starts out as a teen gross-out comedy, a spiritual prequel of sorts to the American Pie franchise, evolves into an unexpectedly tender, timeless and lifelike story of coming of age, men and women, desire and betrayal. Good boy falls for the girl; girl picks the bad boy; good boy gets hurt - a classic Turgenev plot. The acting is top-notch. In particular, Lawrence Monoson as Gary gives an incredibly touching and nuanced performance, masterfully inhabiting that awkward 'boy to man' space. Yet the somber moments unfold side by side with laugh- out-loud, lusty comedy - not an easy balance to achieve. This film will stay with you, and not just as a trip down the memory lane for those of us who were fortune enough to go through our teenage years under the flashing neon lights of the 1980s.
BA_Harrison
A trio of sex-obsessed high-school lads—nice guy Gary (Lawrence Monoson), stud-muffin Rick (Steve Antin), and lard-arse David (Joe Rubbo), spend their spare time trying to get laid as often as possible. Their friendship falls apart, however, when Gary falls for the new girl at the school, Karen (Diane Franklin), who unfortunately for him, has the hots for Rick (ain't that always the way?).If I had already gotten around to reviewing Israeli teen sex comedy Lemon Popsicle, it would make writing about The Last American Virgin a whole lot easier, for the latter is a virtual scene-for-scene remake of the former. Having already made a fortune with Lemon Popsicle (and its subsequent sequels), producers Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus targeted the US market by taking the main elements from their proved hit—the dynamics of the main characters' friendship, their sexual escapades, and the ultimate outcome of the movie—and relocating them from 50s Israel to 80s America. The result: The Last American Virgin, and a whole load of dollars to go with their already massive pile of shekels!Being a huge fan of Lemon Popsicle since the early 80s (I saw it many times as a teenager, there not being much to choose from at my local video rental shop), I personally wouldn't class The Last American Virgin as an 'essential' teen sex comedy, however I still found it very entertaining stuff, with impressive performances from its young cast, a wonderful pop/rock soundtrack (R.E.O. Speedwagon rule!), and some very welcome female nudity, particularly from the oh-so-cute Franklin (who has been a favourite of mine since seeing her way back when in Amityville II: The Possession).Before watching The Last American Virgin, I strongly suggest checking out the original (and in my opinion, superior) Lemon Popsicle, but if you're absolutely sure that a Middle Eastern rock 'n' roll sex comedy won't be your cup of Café Afuch (yes, I had to look that up!), then definitely give this one a go—it's still one of the better films the genre has to offer.
concerro
Most of the movie is just like all the other high school dating B movies with nudity to keep guys glued to the screen. You have the typical nerd who likes the pretty girl who likes the handsome/cool guy who is a jerk. In this movie though the jerk, and the leading "hero" are actually friends which is something different. Towards the end of the movie though the movie becomes more serious. I have never seen a movie where the tone switched so dramatically. I gave the movie a six at first(20 minutes before the end), but after seeing the ending I moved it to a 7. I will admit the movie as a whole is not a 7. Not including the ending it is a 5 or 6, but the ending was so great to me that I pushed it to a 7.
