First Nudie Musical

Comedy, nudity, and the just plain bizarre collide in The First Nudie Musical. In hopes of making enough money to save his troubled movie studio, Harry Schecter (Stephen Nathan) and his plucky secretary, Rosie (Cindy Williams, pre-Laverne & Shirley), cook up the world's first pornographic musical. What follows is a loosely plotted collection of comedy bits and musical numbers (written by Rene Hall and codirector Bruce Kimmel) that, while not always successful, have a raw energy and charm that's hard to resist. The movie as a whole looks like it's been done by a new sketch comedy troupe with plenty of spirit and almost enough rehearsal. Yes, there is full-frontal nudity, and once you're done feeling bad for the first group of naked chorines performing in a roomful of fully clothed men, it all goes fine. Though many of the bits misfire, there is plenty of genuinely funny stuff, and even when there isn't, the movie is so weird that it's hard to stop watching. --Ali Davis