The center of attention towards the film seems to be the amount of nudity. There is a large amount but the film's reasoning behind it stems from the people being "nudist" at a nudist resort. The story is relatively better than expect and only given a small plot description, it does showcase what it it about. The film isn't as provocative as initially thought, where this is a real film with a plot, convincing acting, characters, well dialogue and so on.
Although the end results are very predictable and we see sort of how they would unfold as the film progresses. With an obvious happy ending. The ending is given a very clear sequel bait, and apparently there is a sequel but not yet out? They really should have made the sequel right away. This film seems like it would actually made a decent tv series, given that there are several different characters and many subplots could ensure from it.
Act Naturally
2011
Action / Comedy / Drama
Act Naturally
2011
Action / Comedy / Drama
Plot summary
When two estranged stepsisters inherit their father's nudist resort, getting back to nature has never been so completely unnatural. A FilmBuff Presentation.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Tech specs
720p.WEB 1080p.WEBMovie Reviews
Light and enjoyable
Not bad in the way it ain't good way
There is the set up for the joke: the father of two sisters (one adopted, one natural born) has died and left a nudist colony to his two daughters who don't realize it is a nudist colony till they show up at the front gate. The next hour and a-half is the punchline that gets anticlimactic and predictable after the first five minutes. Why does the adopted child call the natural born child about the death of their father?
The one daughter is adopted with barely discernable discussion of what adoption means to her and that fact to the relationship of the natural born child. And the father hardly seemed the type to adopt anyone.
Body image is barely touched on though it is hinted at; one of the employees has a noticeable burn scar on her shoulder, barely touched on as a topic for body image, except for how it happened. The scar seems to mysteriously disappear by the end of the movie. One person (male) was morbidly obese, most would be described as the va-va-voom category, or at least not repulsive naked. No elderly nudists. Little family nudity, till the end and a family with infant show up showering together. Personally, I would maintain that everyone looks good naked; nudity seems to de-emphasize weight where clothing seems to emphasize weight.
There was an awful lot of drinking alcohol; alcohol is a depressant and a vasal dilator and hardly recommended in a hot-tub.
There was some discussion of what motivated people to attend nudist resort. But somehow, by the end of the movie, there was a feeling of an inability of the scriptwriters to grasp something essential to the movie: the adopted child and the birth child. They were simply not able to grasp that importance and signification to the movie. In the end one sister ops into the nudist lifestyle, the other rejects it.
The film didn't quite descend to titillations, but it didn't ascend very far from that. We can see people being shot to death on TV (even the standard crime drama on the four stations--ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX--but heaven forfend if we see the naked male or female. (I'm aware there is something wrong with that logic, but I can never put my finger on what is wrong. )
Like I say, the film didn't quite descend to titillation, but it didn't ascend very far from that.
It seems like there were any number of serious directions the film could have traversed, creating a more substantial film about nudity, and instead they went for the trite and obvious.
Almost charming, always inoffensive
The is so close to being one of those sweet indie comedies, but it just misses to mark in a few places. It's extremely trope-y with by the book characters and plot, BUT everyone seems to be acting their hearts out and there's nothing truly awful about it. It's just kind of there. A few laughs, but nothing you'll remember later. It doesn't even exploit the nudity! Comes across as more gentle and loving than trashy, which makes one wonder who this was for? Nudists?
I've definitely seen worse and would still say this was an okay watch if you've got nothing else on the plate.