"A free lay with every stay!"Sam Kehoe (Gary Herberger) is the new kid in town, and not overjoyed by the fact. All he wants to do is fit in, make friends, and be an average teenager. But things are difficult when your eccentric father has just invested his money in a new property. And not just any old family home, either, but a thirty room motel, complete with honeymoon suite (above Sam's bedroom, of all places!).
To worsen Sam's first day at school jitters, he is forced to make do with a rather unflattering mode of transport: the baby pink estate wagon that was thrown in with his father's purchase. It wouldn't be so bad if it was just a baby pink estate wagon. Of course, Sam isn't that lucky. This baby pink estate happens to be complete with the motto: "a free lei with every stay", above which a big ol' Paradise Motel logo sits. And that isn't all. The seventeen year old even has the privilege of travelling with a bit of company. An extra passenger - on the roof - in the shape of a hula girl. But what a disgraced Sam is unaware of is that all this blatant self-advertising is about to become the motel's biggest success in alluring a regular clientele. I mean, what the hell right? Who would benefit from spare, away-from-home double beds better than horny high schoolers?
Upon arriving at school the Principal pairs his new student up in an effort to aid him around the place. Sam isn't too taken by the guy showing him the ropes, Mick (Robert Krantz), who comes off as a complete jerk and bails at the first opportunity. It doesn't seem real that only five minutes down the line, our Micky boy and his filthy-mouthed, randy as rabbits crew resort to some serious ass-licking to manipulate the vulnerable new kid. Prior to the impending fiasco, Sam's day is brightened when he meets school beauty Laura, who he instantly falls for.
Pulling up the next morning, Sam is descended upon by Mick and his guys Danny and Shooter, who seem all-too interested in the unusual transportation on view. Astonishingly, the mockery comes in small doses - it's the propositions that are free-flowing from the mouths of the cocky gang, insistent on nabbing a room in Paradise. So determined are they that they sneak Sam out of classes for some heavy persuasion tactics. If only they'd simply rent a room! But oh no - Mick has other ideas. And what Mick wants, Mick gets. Hot under the collar and feeling the pressure of the gang's persistence, Sam buckles and agrees to their demands of a free - and frequent - bed. Now the hard part: pulling it off.
Lacking sleep from his disastrous proximity to the honeymoon suite, Sam guilt-trips his dad into keeping the lover's room eternally vacant. Supposing his unsuspecting father had been made aware of the low down and dirty exploits the presumed out-of-bounds apartment was about to bring, he'd surely have thought twice about falling for his son's cleverly concocted act. However, Sam need'nt worry about the consequences of being ratted-out.. yet. For now, no more Mick, Danny and Shooter on his back demanding favours and more importantly, the chance to become a member of their gang and be free from the ranks of the social outcasts. They can't be too bad of a group of guys, can they?
As the lovers suite gets some regular use, Sam finds himself instantly accepted. Offered the odd buck here and there for his troubles, he refuses, telling Mick and the guys that their friendship is a fine enough substitute for cash. Storm clouds are headed for sunny California, though. And they're gonna land directly above Sam Kehoe's naive head.
Beginning to take notice of Mick's casual approach to bedding girls, Sam is at a loss to discover that the beautiful and brainy Laura - woman of his dreams - is also one of his targets for a quickie. Feeling obliged to rescue her from a broken heart, Sam plans to show the over-confident (and so-called friend) Mick what he's really made of. Before he can do anything, though, our hero must also save the only decent man of the gang - Shooter - from a desperate predicament.
Grave misunderstandings, punch-ups, pranks, first love and a hat full of humour isn't far behind.. They might want to re-think the whole Paradise thing!
VERDICT: ★★★ ½
Paradise Motel is an incredibly obscure little number that was written as a follow-on to the horrendous, tacky, and equally obscure 1982 flick Goin' All The Way, and thank god it wasn't burdened with the title Goin' All The Way 2 (or 'Too'!). Why was the 'first' so horrendous, you ask? Well, as the title implies, it's pretty much just ninety minutes of some pathetically horny kid using a copious amount of force/trickery/various other unscrupulous tactics, with the ultimate goal of boning the chick he likes to refer to as his girlfriend. I can't even be sure whether the jerk does the deed by the end of it all, since he spends the majority of the movie amid rampant fantasies. Anyway, back to matter at hand.
Paradise Motel does what many lower budget teen sex comedies fail at. It makes the most of what it can be. It doesn't numb your brain or bombard you with jackass characters you couldn't care less for. It doesn't chuck in as many naked women as possible, or as much slapstick toilet humour and sound effects. This is a movie that actually makes a half-decent coming of age story about the fears of being accepted, about the harsh truths that teenagers face when it dawns on them that being irresponsible for the rest of your life gets you nowhere. Enough of this serious rubbish, you say! I thought this was a sex comedy? Well, it is. And the best part of the sex is over with within the first sixty seconds of the movie. Sorry to disappoint. Jokes aside, Paradise Motel isn't the dumb, wafer-thin, forgotten piece of film-making that it first strikes you as. It does suffer from misleading cover art syndrome, what with the whole sexy beach flick vibe it has goin' on. Ignore all of your low expectations! Paradise Motel will pleasantly surprise.
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SOUNDTRACK:
I say it often and i'll say it again. THIS SOUNDTRACK KICKS ASS! Sadly, you gotta enjoy it in the movie, 'cause as far as it seems, it's another for the (increasingly huge) unreleased list.
1. One Track Mind - Remote Control
2. Illusion - Rick White
3. Wave Length - Remote Control
4. Suzy - Radio Bandits
5. Big Talk - Teaze
6. Lolita - Remote Control
7. Sparks - Remote Control
8. Better Late Than Never - Jacki O
9. Have a Heart - Dee Archer
10. I'm The One - Rick Neigher
11. Party 'Til We Die - The Rubinoos
12. Can't Give Up - Tom Brighton
13. Get Even - Remote Control
14. Fast Friends - Rick White
