I can't believe people liked this movie!!! And believe me I'm not ignorant, I watch A lot of exploitation movies and film in general. Although this movie was meant as an homage, it seriously missed the mark. I think that it is such a rare thing when the whole 'directed by, produced, written, costumed and starring..' gimmick works and it only works when that person can act AND write (in my opinion she couldn't do either). There's a big difference between doing a send-off and making fun of the genre. The whole movie seemed like a giant 'stroke-fest' (like someone masturbating on film: solely for their own enjoyment and ego) where it was no accident that anyone with acting talent (or a better figure) were given minimal parts. Anna Biller cannot act- she's doing a really bad job of pretending to be a bad actor. (you know what they say; it takes a smart person to play dumb) AND please tell me someone else noticed the ugly faces she was making the ENTIRE movie?! That girl needs to spend some time in front of a mirror, practicing not doing that ever again. I did enjoy the orgy scene and the animation. I think if the movie were starring Robbin Ryan and Bridget Brno, it would have made for much better cinema. I may be starving for cinematic magic lately but, I'm not desperate enough to settle for less than fantastic. The musical numbers were sad and skimpy with the exception of Bridget Brno song in the bathtub. The 'two little girls from the suburbs' bugged me in a major way considering Viva couldn't touch Gentleman Prefer Blondes with a 100ft pole. The sets were good for the most part though inconsistent, as were the style and overall appearance of the film (sometimes it was bright and technicolor and sometimes muted.) Overall, I was just disappointed at what appeared to be a fantastic new movie but, ended up looking like a school project at times. That's what comes of thinking exploitation films look easy to make.
Review of Viva
