Valley of the Sun (2011) User Reviews (8)

Great Concept, Average Execution

[jswon-546-760631 · 6/10 · 4 December 2012]

The very concept of the film is hilarious, but the film can't decide on it's audience - a rauchy, Will Ferrellesque comedy, a serious, adult drama, or an ABC Family movie about porn stars. It doesn't mix well. I saw this film in a theater a couple of years ago and the audience loved it - but it was mostly an older crowd. I couldn't help but feel then as I do now that the film was a missed opportunity at a larger audience.

Whitworth gives it his all, and the other side characters are solid. The production budget was slightly cheaper than I expected, but it doesn't strongly detract. Again, another case of good but with the potential for great.

I'd recommend it.

Johnny and Heather sell it with style

[beetlejump · 6/10 · 15 February 2024]

This film has talent and a great sense of humor and style. I don't plan to watch it again with friends like I might other movies, but I have watched it twice and enjoyed it more the second time. As the synopsis states, adult star character Vick Velour, whose real name is Andy, has a mental breakdown and needs a rest. His parents, the fabulous Barry Corbin and the irrepressible Beth Grant, take him to their retirement community to chill out. While recovering, he is befriended by two of the male residents and also meets Heather Burns. The cast of this movie contains a lot of talent and everyone is just right for their role, including Graham Greene. My selling point is Johnny Whitworth and Heather Burns. I think they have exceptional likeability and genuine chemistry. If you are into types, Johnny is totally a Dermot Mulroney type; laid back, understated, and looking to avoid being noticed. Andy is able to use his experience to help some of the community members, and starts being real with Heather's character Betsy. That's the kind of movie it is, the love interests' names are Andy and Betsy, and at one point they go square dancing together. No great dramatic scenes here, just an affirmation of honesty, accountability, and humility. I suggest you wach at least until Andy walks down the street in his green velour suit, hat, and glasses. His 2011 Ray Bans made me visit the company website.

A breath of fresh air...

[lindsncal · 7/10 · 4 November 2012]

I watched this movie on Netflix where it got a much better rating than here and I think for good reason. A simple movie about an adult subject that couldn't have been more entertaining and finally ...without any big Hollywood input of any kind. The movie was over before I realized I had watched the whole thing without being bored for a minute. The characters were all likable and again..played very simply and well. I watch lots of movies, one a day at least, and am a tough critic that usually finds fault with most of them, especially big blockbusters, but this, for what it was, had no flaws really. It was good to see Garret Morris from Saturday Night Live of old too. Again...it was a simple movie with a nice message.

Love this adult movie!

[TanteWaileka · 8/10 · 1 February 2014]

I actually do not know if this review has 'spoilers' but better safe than banned forever. ha ha I loved this movie on Netflix. The male star is not someone I remember from any other movie, but I really liked him. Which means that I probably really like the DIRECTOR who drew out of the characters their best performance, I think. I'm recommending this movie to my 90 year old uncle and his 93 year old wife. I'm only worried about the first 3-4 minutes, because I do not know if they have a good bad or indifferent attitude towards porn. Personally I love porn movies, well for about the first 5 minutes than I (and my hubby) don't need 'em anymore, ha ha. hmmm. This is the first movie that had a 'porn star' character that I watched to the very end. I like the movie but I don't buy into the basic premise that the porn star had a nervous breakdown because an uptight neighbor thinks he should move out of her 'decent neighborhood'. I also don't agree with how female porn stars were portrayed as though they were real-life members of that old HBO reality show about the house of prostitution located outside of Las Vegas. If I had been more 'liberated' when I was in my 20s I would have done that for a living for a year maybe two. Why not? I watch porn movies, had the hot body required of porn stars and could have taught viewers a few 'sex lessons' too. I would do them now but no one wants to see a 66 year old body except for a 43-year-old husband (my husband). Enjoy this movie, you won't have to think deep thoughts, you can just enjoy the cute little story line and the pretty face/rockhard body of the main star. That's enough for me, anyway.

great fun!

[hatch-melody · 9/10 · 18 December 2012]

wonderfully fun film! The premise of a porn star moving in my his parents in their retirement community could be treated for broad laughs, but is handled often with subtle humor and even a dose of seriousness.

Johnny Whitworth dives fully into Vick Velour/Andy. From the opening scene at a porn convention to the moment where he's about to toss himself off the edge of a building, you sense Andy's disenfranchisement with his choices and not just his business. Like the rest of the film, he could have played the role just for yucks. Instead, he's equal parts dramatic and comedic.

The film is choked full of great cameos. Barry Corbin, Garrett Morris, Graham Greene; all of them deliver solid performances and Morris in particular is hilarious. It's fun to see actors you remember not only get an opportunity in a great movie but deliver as well.

Great movie

[stonequine · 10/10 · 8 December 2013]

The movie comes across simple however, it is the actors expressions and interactions that make it great. Love the concepts and story. His desire to have something with more depth and breakdown is not far from what really has happened to people as they restructure their lives to find meaning. Not to mention his behavior of feeling used and unacceptable so therefore unworthy of being anything else was spot on. Very well represented and a challenge faced by people who leave similar jobs. Balance that with the reflections of people in their twilight years that still want to feel alive and in love. The only off part to me was the over zealous Myron being the only one to quote scripture. Plenty of Christians are not psycho judgmental idiots but certainly some are similar to his character. Would have appreciated an additional non-psycho representative, even in a minor roll, in the story too just to point out how off he was. Still overall this rates as one of my favorite movies with a good feeling, lets all live life to be happy theme. Cheers to the writers and all who pulled this one together.

Predictable, annoying, trite and dumb

[jm10701 · 17 February 2013]

Valley of the Sun is extremely predictable, full of annoying horny-old-woman stereotypes that were boring 30 years ago on Golden Girls and are even more boring today; of mean, arrogant bullies vs decent folk; and just about every other tired cliché from every hackneyed TV drama and sitcom of the last 40 years.

Johnny Whitworth plays a thirtysomething LA porn star who for some unexplained reason goes nuts and then moves in with his parents in Arizona. He's shirtless and sweaty practically everywhere he goes in the old people's community where his parents live, and then he rolls his eyes and acts astonished when the old folks of both sexes and a neurotic young woman in a pharmacy paw at him. What a jerk, and what a stupid, annoying movie.

I don't know what planet the reviewers who praised it came from, but it's not one I want to visit. Beth Grant is fantastic, though, as she is in every single movie and television show she's ever appeared in. If this dumb, profoundly irritating movie is worth watching at all, it's for her and her only.

Simple, fun characters, easy watch.

[BarneyGrapes · 23 May 2022]

This is, as several people have said, just a simple feel good movie with likeable characters. It doesn't stretch anything out too long, and just has fun with the predictable story.

Completely okay for Grandma and Gramps also. They would probably get a kick out of this movie assuming they're not too puritan. I find the older they get, the less hangups they have. Which also seems to be the case with the characters in this movie as well.

There's nothing explicit in this movie. Just references to explicite acts.