Finding Bliss (2008)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Leigh R

  
  I actually kind of liked this movie. It could easily have been a teen raunch film, but it still had enough heart and warmth in it to make it be a romantic comedy. Leelee was great with her role as the shockable innocent, which was rather endearing. And can I just say... Davis =… More
  I actually kind of liked this movie. It could easily have been a teen raunch film, but it still had enough heart and warmth in it to make it be a romantic comedy. Leelee was great with her role as the shockable innocent, which was rather endearing. And can I just say... Davis = YUM!

• Walter M

  
  In "Finding Bliss," Jody Balaban(Leelee Sobieski) graduates near the top of her class at NYU film school and has high expections for her career as a director in Hollywood. A year later, she has just been fired from another in a long string of low paying jobs and Garry… More
  In "Finding Bliss," Jody Balaban(Leelee Sobieski) graduates near the top of her class at NYU film school and has high expections for her career as a director in Hollywood. A year later, she has just been fired from another in a long string of low paying jobs and Garry Marshall will not return any of her phone calls. Things are looking up when Irene Fox(Kristen Johnston) offers her a job as an editor on a new film being directed by Jeff Drake(Matt Davis). The bad news is that it is for a porn studio which is especially awkward considering her past bad experiences with sex that went into her screenplay of "On the Virge." Once she thinks about it, she takes the job, figuring she can use its production facilities in secret to make her movie with her best friend Kathleen(Donnamarie Recco). Led by a pair of appealing lead performances, "Finding Bliss" is an amusing comedy that stumbles through some lazy and cliched jokes about the adult entertainment industry.(The table reading scene's sole reason for existence is apparently to get a rise out of Jody.) But instead of crudely insinuating that all Jody needs is to get laid, the movie takes the high road by saying that all that has to happen is for her to open her mind.(Speaking of surprises, Denise Richards actually gives a good performance.) The movie through Drake sees the possibilities of pornography which can be helped through a judicious use of editing. This is a place where many of these characters have landed at least temporarily while pursuing loftier dreams, which is true for so many in Hollywood. But at least none of the characters are making commercials.

• Mark A

  
  A silly bit of fluff that actually proved to be more entertaining than this viewer expected. Disappointing, in that the situation depicted in the cover photo never even comes close to appearing in the film. Neither Leelee Sobieski, as the film student who lands a job at the adult film… More
  A silly bit of fluff that actually proved to be more entertaining than this viewer expected. Disappointing, in that the situation depicted in the cover photo never even comes close to appearing in the film. Neither Leelee Sobieski, as the film student who lands a job at the adult film studio, or Kristen Johnson, the head of the studio, ever come close to dropping their clothes. C'est la vie! Fairly predictable boy meets girl story, but set on a porno sound stage. The nudity is brief and partial only, and the story turns up the cute factor considerably. But even with all that going for it, this viewer managed to stay with it to the end and actually felt some twinge of emotion. Snif! Is making one's first independent film really like this?

• Christopher H

  
  Consider Finding Bliss a tasteful adult film, which is what the characters are striving to make in the film. Unlike most films portraying adult entertainment, Finding Bliss has a glimpse of heart and opens the world of filmmaking up for discussions. Though it appears that many of the… More
  Consider Finding Bliss a tasteful adult film, which is what the characters are striving to make in the film. Unlike most films portraying adult entertainment, Finding Bliss has a glimpse of heart and opens the world of filmmaking up for discussions. Though it appears that many of the parties, like Sobieski and Richards, have fallen far, the truth is, there are worse places to be in this industryâ?¦ like porn.

• Doctor S

  
  <i>"Are you two the fluffers?"</i> <i>"No, we're the Balabans."</i> A better lighthearted stab at developing romantic complications while making a pornographic film than <i>Zack and Miri</i>. I really liked Leelee Sobieski… More
  <i>"Are you two the fluffers?"</i> <i>"No, we're the Balabans."</i> A better lighthearted stab at developing romantic complications while making a pornographic film than <i>Zack and Miri</i>. I really liked Leelee Sobieski as Jody Balaban in this: she's not bitchy or whiny, she's just a driven, insecure aspiring filmmaker who sees her job as an editor at a porn studio as an opportunity to use their equipment to create her own vision of a love story, which in turn gets influenced by the lessons she learns from the actors and technical staff. Plus no use denying some guilty pleasure from hearing her husky voice saying those dirty words. Matthew Davis as her potential love interest is a little disappointing but the rest of the cast is pretty good, particularly Kristen Johnston who gets some good comedy lines and Jaime Kennedy and a denser-than-Dirk-Diggler porn actor. "You're the best director I've ever had, and I've done over 400 movies!" Denise Richards creates a surprise with her role too. Through Jody, writer-director Julie Davis communicates in a distinctive female (which does not mean feminist) voice, which provides an interesting & uncommon infusion of ideas within the context of adult entertainment. There are several continuity errors in the editing, the chemistry between the leads never feels quite right, and a way too standard feel-good ending don't quite topple some funny bits, well-written dialogue, and Leelee.