Critic Reviews

• Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times

  Canner's deft exposé also makes clear that some of the highest-profile "experts" are shills for Big Pharma, and that genital mutilation is thriving in the West, in the form of cosmetic surgery.

• David Lewis, San Francisco Chronicle

  Can best be described as a compelling mess.

• Wesley Morris, Boston Globe

  Some subjects are so compelling that not even bad filmmaking can ruin them. And for most of "Orgasm Inc.'' it feels as if Canner is trying with all her might to do just that.

• Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald

  Many documentaries lose focus or become unwieldy as their directors uncover unexpected facts about their subjects, but Canner is able to keep Orgasm Inc. trained on its eponymous theme ...

• Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com

  Essentially, "Orgasm Inc." illustrates a time-honored principle of capitalism, which is that you'll never go broke by convincing women that something is wrong with them and then selling them something to make it better.

• Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times

  By taking a playful approach to a deeply serious subject, [director Liz Canner] explores the link between female sexuality and corporate profits with a style that's as entertaining as it is revelatory.

• Fr. Chris Carpenter, Movie Dearest

  A must-see for women and men alike. So long as the filmmaker sticks to disturbing facts and figures...(the movie) provides a stiff tonic indeed.

• Gerald Peary, Boston Phoenix

  [Shows] how the American pharmaceutical industry, in legion with famous doctors in its pay, has identified a disease, "female sexual dysfunction" (FSD), that they claim (dubiously) afflicts 43 percent of American women.

• Robin Clifford, Reeling Reviews

  ...may seem targeted at female audiences, but the film has a universal appeal with its slap at big pharmaceutical corporations that...turn healthy people into patients just to sell their drugs.

• Laura Clifford, Reeling Reviews

  Canner gives us all the subtext that was missing from "Love and Other Drugs."

• Leslie Stonebraker, New York Press

  The film may not be orgasmic, but it is an education, a call to action, and a celebration of just how very normal female sexuality can be.

• Jesse Cataldo, Slant Magazine

  This is a strident issue movie with the feel of a more objective portrayal.

• Ethan Alter, NYC Film Critic

  This thoughtful-if at times clumsy-film is the latest salvo in the ongoing debate over the increased power of the pharmaceutical industry.

• Scott Tobias, AV Club

  Broadly speaking, Canner hails from the Michael Moore school of first-person editorializing, but Orgasm Inc. isn't given to vanity or cheap shots, and her point of view isn't so jaundiced as to cut off discussion of female sexual problems altogether.

• Kam Williams, NewsBlaze

  An eye-opening, cautionary tale unveiling a diabolical corporate conspiracy to turn healthy people into patients by medicalizing everyday aspects of the human condition.

• MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher

  [T]hose of us worldly and wise about human sexuality will be angry to see laid so, er, bare, the medicalization of our culture's unwillingness to meet women on their own terms...

• Doris Toumarkine, Film Journal International

  Liz Canner's exposé of what big business and hungry wannabes and hangers-on do best-exploit fears, insecurities and myths at the expense of others and to their own enrichment-is familiar except for its ingenious exploitation of the female orgasm.

• Jennifer Merin, About.com

  Liz Canner's entertaining and infuriating expose about the profit-driven pharmaceutical industry's commercialization of female sexuality is a must-see for women of all ages, their lovers and physicians.

Read all 18 critic reviews