Orgasm Inc.

A A A Comments (0) By Nick Pinkerton Thursday, Mar 31 2011

ORGASM INC. Orgasm Inc. outlines the pharmaceutical industry–sponsored classification, diagnosis and marketing of FSD — female sexual dysfunction — as a disease suffered by “43 percent of women,” and the subsequent race for a lucrative cure. Innovations detailed include the Orgasmatron, a jerry-built spinal-implant doohickey, testosterone patches and the clinical trials of a cream developed by Vivus, whose offices director Liz Canner infiltrates. Doing the on-camera investigator-narrator thing, Canner sticks to the established formula of strained-gonzo muckraking, including stock-footage asides and devastatingly unfunny animations. There’s plenty of inherent absurdity in the marketing-speak from Vivus (“... working closely [with physicians] to develop this disease entity ...”) and the tests applied at the headquarters of a Chicago-based FSD clinic (“You’ll be wearing these 3-D glasses, you’ll be watching an erotic video ...”). Instead of giving the snake-oil salesmen (and -women) enough rope, though, Canner smothers irony with condescending indignation. Too scattered in its arguments and piecemeal in its sources to weave together a convincing institutional condemnation — and the one FDA advisory panel we see does its work quite well, thank you — Orgasm Inc. attacks Big Pharma with little more than sex-positive platitudes, funky-mama coffee-shop strumming and the usual “We as a society ...” and “Our culture has made ...” conclusions. (Nick Pinkerton) (Sunset 5)