Finding Bliss
Finding Bliss
| 18 January 2009 (USA)

Rent / Buy

Buy from $9.99
Finding Bliss Trailers

Jody Balaban, an aspiring filmmaker, is fresh to L.A. with New York film school accolades and the dream of making her movie. Unable to get a job where she can use the skills she so finely honed, Jody must edit adult entertainment to make ends meet. The uncompromising desire to make her movie, leads Jody to secretly film in the porn studio facilities at night - until she is caught in the act.

Reviews
Tacticalin

An absolute waste of money

... View More
Kailansorac

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

... View More
Robert Joyner

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

... View More
Sabah Hensley

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

... View More
Jay Raskin

This film is a warm, witty comedy that involves a clash of two cultures, just as "Pretty Woman" was. In "Pretty Woman" it was streetwalker and super-rich culture that clashed. In this it is Personal/artschool filmmaking and porno ("That's passe, call it adult"] filmmaking. The films also match in having beautiful, bright, warm, young blonde actresses in the lead. There is also the Gary Marshall connection. Gary Marshall is the narrator/director of "Pretty Woman" and he is in the movie "Finding Bliss" and the catalyst in a way for everything that happens.Unfortunately, while Pretty Woman made zillions of dollars, "Finding Bliss" only made two dollars. This is unfortunate, because I think anybody who like "Pretty Woman" would enjoy "Finding Bliss" While the film is sometimes formulaic in the romantic comedy mode, there are some strikingly original scenes. The scenes of Sobieski getting turned on by the pornography that she's editing is genuinely erotic and striking. It dances softly around the lines separating mass market and porn films.I watched Julie Davis' "Amy's O" and also found it a charming comedy dealing with sex. She is especially brilliant at directing women. Besides a great performance from Sobrieski (which one always expects), Kristen Johnson and Denise Richards also give wonderfully comic and sweet performances.One may criticize the film for having a naive or romantic notion of pornographic/adult film-making. In a sense, rather than being realistic, this film could be considered more of 1950's movie fantasy in which virginal Doris Day gets turned on, rips off her pajamas, beds Rock Hudson, yet still manages to get married and live happily ever after.Does every film about the pornography movie industry need to be a moral lesson on the terrible abuse that often goes on in that industry. Perhaps from a moralist point of view it does.However, we should consider this film does give a utopian vision of a gentler, more sophisticated porn industry that cares about its performers and especially women. Before condemning it, please consider that "Pretty Woman" also did not show the uglier side of prostitution. If you have protests about the liberal morality of "Finding Bliss," you should have the same protests with "Pretty Woman."

... View More
Robert J. Maxwell

Leelee Sobieski's face projects a strange beauty. It's practically a flat plane with two tiny lips above the chin. Her nose isn't prominent but it seems very long. It goes on forever, an Afghanistan war of a nose. Her eyes are set too close together but they're magnetic. They look capable of seeing through things, like an X-ray device. She had an admirable figure too in "Eyes Wide Shut." But this material is autobiographical and, though cute, will probably find a more appreciative audience among women than among men. I'm not being sexist about this. Psychological studies have been done that show a difference between the things that men and women find funny, and this movie, like "Sex And The City," ought to appeal to females.The story itself, no doubt covered elsewhere, has Sobieski as a recent graduate of film school who can only find work as an editor for what the handsome young producer calls "adult entertainment." She has to learn what a "gaper" is. (It's pretty disgusting, if you ask me.) And it's amusing when she's advised to learn the tricks of the trade and snaps back, "Like what? How to get somebody's ass print off your face?" There aren't really enough of those jabs and many of the funny situations depend on our ability to identify with a nice innocent Jewish girl in an absurdly filthy business full of cheerful cynics.All is not lost however. Sobieski is clever enough to borrow the one-room studio's equipment to shoot her own film, though she must hock her grandmother's engagement ring to raise the money to buy the raw stock.And let's not forget that handsome young producer. Aesthetically, he may currently be a ditch digger but he has a golden award for an art film he recently produced. That boy has talent, even if it doesn't run along medical lines. Is that the scent of orange blossoms in the air?

... View More
bhilgefort

This was a surprising eye opener for being an independent film yet it was one of the funniest that I've seen in a long time. One of the best surprises of all was the return of a fantastic familiar face! The humor comes from the best place of all, the underbelly of adult entertainment, which has seen it's share of jokes. However, the sense of humor along with the well hidden, good nature behind a lot of the characters makes for a fantastic film with a great twist! Quite refreshing and leaves you with happy feelings. Not necessarily a "chick flick" or even a "tit flick" yet drew in attention without having to be nasty about it! I would say this film is very under-rated and VERY well rounded and would also say that this movie is certainly not for kids.

... View More
napierslogs

"Finding Bliss" is just a middle-of-the-road, soft-core film about a young film-maker struggling to succeed in Hollywood. Unfortunately it doesn't play out much better than just a student film itself.It begins with every cliché and plot advance you expect to find in a chick flick. Our heroine has struggled with finding romance because she wears glasses and a ponytail. It doesn't matter that Leelee Sobieski is one of the most beautiful women on the planet, glasses and a ponytail equates with ugly. When she arrives in Hollywood the only place she can find a job is at a porn production company. We then succeed with every porn-associated joke done before. "He directed Charlie's Angels?!" our heroine asks incredulously, the response: "No, he directed Charlie's Anals". Don't worry, there's a lot more jokes along those lines.This film really doesn't do anything wrong. The characters are fine, the actors are all cute, the storyline is engaging enough and it flows quickly. But they did all of that with over-used and tiresome jokes that just aren't that funny anymore. Every turn in the plot was telegraphed so clearly that the few inventive elements were completely predictable and expected. I found "Finding Bliss" to just be a Hollywood-reflective soft-core film that is not nearly as insightful as it was supposed to be.

... View More