There are very few movies that get that Mockumentary style of filmmaking right, and then there are a lot that are just truly awful. Thankfully though, Jay Buim’s Adventures in Success gets it right and provides some much-needed levity and laughter in these trying times. There Earth is dying, which is a scary reality in of itself, and the founder of the sex-cult is ready to heal mother earth, with the power of the female orgasm.
Live is proving to be too much for some people, and their escapism isn’t what it used to be under the conventional methods anymore. In the depths of the cat skills is this new sex cult led by Peggy (Lexie Mountain) as she preaches her ideology of jilling off (female masturbation) to heal the earth by the power of the female orgasm. However she has very strict rules, since she believes only the female orgasm can bring earth back to its healthy form, only women can ejaculate and men are denied since pleasures. When Erica (Yaz Perea) joins the cult, things start to take a turn for the wild and unexpected as she believes Peggy’s mission but doesn’t entirely want to play by the rules.
What works with Adventures in Success is the absolute absurdity that Jay Buim, Susan Juvet, and Rachel Gayle manage to pack into this story. They craft a story that both simultaneously pokes fun at wellness cults and wellness ‘activism’ while also being a strong female driven story and a story about protecting our earth. Whether the last part is intentional or not, it does spark a debate about how we are killing our planet and it needs to be protected at all costs. Whether that can be done by perfecting the female orgasm is up to debate, but Adventures in Success certainly begs you to try and see it that way.
Now a story about a sex cult in the cat skills about healing mother earth with the power of the female orgasm can only go so far if the cast and cult leader cannot deliver. However, Lexie Mountain absolutely delivers the sheer insanity and brilliance of believe that a cult leader needs to possess to get their message across. While the movie is sheerly a comedy, her performance is nothing short of menacingly brilliant. She encapsulates a cult leader perfectly and makes you truly believe that the world Is going to heal from the power of the female orgasm.