I was finally able to revisit this film and give it a proper Letterboxd review. Frankly, I’m not as fond of a film as I was in the past, especially w/ the theatrical 3D experience fifteen years (!) ago. The luxury yacht in the room is the pastiche of Girls Gone Wild that’s the main plot thread. In hindsight, it is unfortunate in American culture that for a few years in the early 21st century, some asswipe would film girls at Spring Break and convince them to flash their breasts, engage in wet t-shirt contests, and worse then release the footage to the public. Jerry O’Connell as Not Joe Francis at least did a swell job in portraying a loathsome sexist jerk who encourages debauchery at the Arizona Spring Break location, the fictional Lake Victoria.
For better or for worse this is entirely different from the original Piranha from Joe Dante. Various characters are followed as an earthquake released an ancient breed of the title creature from a fissure. Some of this undoubtedly hasn’t aged well & I’m not just referring to the CG. The depravity shown w/ the intoxicated college kids will never sit well with some, nor will the gratuitous moments of female nudity. This certainly was a movie where Eli Roth plays the host of a wet t-shirt contest & there is plenty of pulsating dancing music.
Those moments noted, I was still entertained by Piranha 3D. This has an over-qualified cast for this B-movie nonsense and lead guy Jake was likable as a local doofus who somehow was lucky enough to be friends w/ Jessica Szohr and befriended Kelly Brook… both have aged gracefully in the preceding 15 years, as I just discovered. The movie is a horror-comedy which does have some laughs and for those that love graphic, gory carnage… there’s an unforgettable stretch where the film delivers, aided by practical Greg Nicotero effects. How extreme that carnage was, it’s the dominant memory I had of Piranha since the theatrical viewing 15 years ago.
The other two memories of that viewing… at the time, a friend was a teacher in Lake Havasu, Arizona (where this was filmed) and at least some of her students were in this as extras! In addition, while the screening I was at was far from sold out, several CHILDREN were present. Previous viewers should be AGHAST this happened. Anyhow, Piranha 3D has an over-qualified cast for this B-movie nonsense… a BTTF reunion w/ Elisabeth Shue and Christopher Lloyd, Ving Rhames, Adam Scott, Paul Scheer, Dina Meyer, and… Richard Dreyfuss.
It required a big paycheck from… Harvey Weinstein’s brother Bob (regrettably, The Weinstein Company released the film) but at least Dreyfuss donated it to charity as he dressed like Matt Hooper and if the viewer didn’t catch on, he sang Show Me the Way to Go Home. It’s incredible Dreyfuss spoofed one of his most famous characters and (spoiler) had him killed off in the opening scene. Arguably, it’s the best moment in the film.
No, the sequel-Piranha 3DD-hasn’t been tackled nor do I ever plan on doing so. Enough reviews have been read that it’d be a film for me to avoid.
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