Slant Magazine by Diego Semerene
The ingenuity of writer-director Jeremy LaLonde's film ends with its title.
Canada · 2015
1h 41m
Director Jeremy Lalonde
Starring Jewel Staite, Lauren Holly, Katharine Isabelle, Lauren Lee Smith
Genre Comedy
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How to Plan an Orgy in a Small Town is about a group of friends who live in the picturesque town of Beaver’s Ridge—the epitome of wholesomeness and strong family values. Their orderly life is interrupted by the homecoming of Cassie Cranston (Jewel Staite), whom they slut-shamed into leaving town when she was a teenager. Now a big-city sex writer, Cassie returns home to face an unwelcome reception by her former friends, and finds an opportunity to seek revenge by writing a book about them when they ask her if she’ll help them plan an orgy.
Slant Magazine by Diego Semerene
The ingenuity of writer-director Jeremy LaLonde's film ends with its title.
How to Plan an Orgy in a Small Town emerges as surprisingly tame fluff, a modestly amusing trifle scarcely saucier than those wink-wink naughty farces that were staples of the ’70s dinner-theater circuit.
Los Angeles Times by Katie Walsh
The film ends up as a heartwarmingly raunchy celebration of unabashed and diverse sexuality without shame or hang ups. And somewhere along the way, writer-director Jeremy LaLonde manages to squeeze in some romance too, turning this sex comedy into a rom-com.
The Seattle Times by Moira Macdonald
All of this is sporadically funny and cheerfully tasteless in its low-budget way, but it’s also unevenly acted, a bit overlong and never quite as daring as it seems to want to be.
Chicago Sun-Times by Richard Roeper
Despite its provocative title, How to Plan an Orgy in a Small Town isn’t particularly sexy. More troubling, it’s not very funny either.