Cannibal Women In The Avocado Jungle Of Death
With a title like this, you were probably expecting a seriously low budget exploitation flick with terrible dialog whose only purpose was to titillate you with a bunch of topless women running around in loin clothes. Well, it does have a few women like that, but this is something altogether different. This movie's only rated PG-13 and has some of the wittiest dialog you'll ever come across.
This was written and directed by John Sayles, who wrote Pretty Woman. Here's the write-up from the box: "Hidden just beyond the outskirts of Southern California lies a hidden wilderness--the treacherous Avocado Belt. Inhabiting the heart of this jungle paradise are the Piranha Women, a tribe of maneaters as fierce and deadly as they are beautiful and seductive. Noted anthropologist Margo Hunt, portrayed by Playboy's own Shannon Tweed is searching for the long-lost Dr. Kurtz (Adrienne Barbeau). Dr. Hunt is accompanied by her assistant Bunny and wise-cracking guide Bill Maher. Together they embark upon a hilarious journey through the hostile jungle in hope of making contact with the Piranha Women and unveiling their culinary secrets."
What the write-up doesn't tell you is that the whole movie is a hilarious look at the war between the sexes. Shannon, who teaches women's studies at a college, is a true blue feminist. When she goes on a search for the Piranha Women, she recruits guide/mercenary Bill Maher of Politically Incorrect fame. He's a man's man. He's everything Shannon hates about men. And to Bill, Shannon's an uptight, repressed feminist extremist. The two are constantly bickering and debating and the banter between the two is hilarious because it's all so very right on the mark.
One of the funniest scenes among the many funny moments in the movie is when Shannon, Bill, and Bunny come across a male tribe called "The Donahues" (As in Phil Donahue. This is the kind of humor you can expect in this movie.) who are scared silly of the Piranha Women and offer gifts of macramé to the Piranha Women so that the women don't kill them. They are complete pansies and it really disgusts Bill Maher. After Shannon (who, amazingly, never takes her clothes off) goes to sleep, Bill starts passing out cans of beer, gets the Donahues half drunk, and teaches them how to be real men. Before you know it, their "real instincts" kick in and they're attacking Bunny. Shannon wakes up because of the commotion and ends the mischief with a gun shot.
The group finally do find the Piranha women, and Adrienne Barbeau is their leader. The women have male servants who wait on the women hand and foot. When it is the guy's turn, he gets marinated and eaten by the women. Bill is slated to be eaten by the women and gets the old marination treatment. But, Shannon escapes and finds another group of renegade manhaters in the jungle, and leads them on an attack against the Piranha Women.
This really is a great, funny movie that holds up really well under repeated viewing. It's certainly a great movie for men and women, who will both enjoy the male versus female debates. I'll give it a 4.