Film

Porky's

Name: Porky's
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1981
Cast: Dan Monahan, Mark Herrier, Wyatt Knight, Roger Wilson, Cyril O'Reilly

Gross-out comedy

A raucous 1981 teen comedy about high school boys scheming to lose their virginity at a strip club in rural Florida, then plotting revenge when they're swindled. It's broad, bawdy, gleefully crude—a film that doesn't apologize for being exactly what it is. For anyone who enjoys ensemble comedies where chaos and improvisation matter more than narrative tightness.

TMDb rating

3.2

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you crave a rowdy, sun-baked 1950s romp of leering schoolboy schemes, where the set pieces are broad, the sex talk is relentless, and the affection for underdogs is genuine.

Skip it if you find adolescent leering wearing thin fast, or want characters with any real interiority; the crude gags and dated attitudes toward women are not incidental.

What it asks of you: Ninety-four minutes of episodic, loud set pieces with little patience for quiet; you settle in for shock-value jokes and accept that it is more gleeful than thoughtful.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Porky's II: The Next Day1983

The immediate sequel doubles down on everything that worked: the same crew of misfits, higher stakes, and a school talent show that explodes into magnificent disorder. If you love the first one's energy, this rides it hard.

But It's essentially the same blueprint again—new scheme, same payoff structure. Repetition works for some viewers and exhausts others.

Animal House1978

The spiritual predecessor: college instead of high school, frats instead of a friend group, but the same love of anarchic ensemble comedy and characters defined by their stupidity and heart in equal measure.

But It's more anarchic and less plot-driven than Porky's, which can feel aimless if you want story momentum rather than chaos.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High1982

Arrived just a year later with similar DNA: California high school, ensemble of oddballs, crude humor balanced with genuine warmth. It feels like the smarter, slightly more empathetic cousin of Porky's.

But It's less focused on revenge-plotting and more interested in just observing teenage life, which makes it gentler and less propulsive.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Porky's

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

History of the World: Part I1981

Both films rejected the comedy templates of their era and asked if movies could just be funny without narrative infrastructure. They also both landed in 1981, suggesting something about what that moment in comedy allowed.

Released the exact same year as Porky's, Brooks proves that comedy doesn't need narrative coherence at all—just intelligence, audacity, and the willingness to make jokes that absolutely will not land for everyone. It's sketch comedy at feature length, which is Porky's' opposite strategy but exact spiritual twin.

But It's fragmented and intellectual in ways Porky's isn't. Some sketches are smart-stupid, others are just smart, and some just crash. That inconsistency is the point, but it's patience-testing.

Revenge of the Nerds1984

Four years later, it borrowed Porky's' blueprint directly: underdog group outcast by jocks, elaborate scheme for payback, broad comedy built on character types. It's the same formula, slightly refined.

But It's more earnest about its underdogs, which means less edge and more sentimentality than Porky's' pure mischief.

Private School1983

Another early-80s teen sex comedy with an ensemble cast, pranks, and plotting. It's got the same DNA and the same appetite for dumb fun without pretense.

But It's thinner on character and personality—feels more like a script than a world. The jokes don't land as reliably.

Stripes1981

Released the same year as Porky's. It's Bill Murray and Harold Ramis finding humor in the absurdity of basic training, with the same spirit of misfit solidarity and improvised comedy.

But It's military rather than teenage, and the humor is less about sex and more about ideological comedy. Totally different register.

The Breakfast Club1985

A high school ensemble that actually cares about character development and emotional truth beneath the comedy. If Porky's made you love teen movies, this shows what the form can do when it swings for something deeper.

But It's entirely serious in places and actively rejects the crude humor Porky's thrives on. It's a completely different animal.

Sixteen Candles1984

John Hughes' first teen movie shares the ensemble spirit and high school setting, but trades revenge-plotting for something gentler: just surviving adolescence with dignity. Still funny, still warm.

But It's almost aggressively sincere and romantic where Porky's is aggressively crude. Some will find it saccharine.

Vixen!1968

Both are films about sexual transgression treated as comedy rather than drama, both built on physical farce and ensemble chaos, both utterly unapologetic about what they are. Porky's is Vixen! filtered through teen comedy, but the DNA is unmistakable.

Thirteen years earlier, Meyer made a film about a sexually assertive woman terrorizing a household. It's anarchic, transgressive, built on physical comedy and audacity rather than plot. It invented the wild-card energy that Porky's would codify for a generation.

But It's shot in VistaVision, defiantly arty in its composition, and its sexual politics are genuinely strange rather than comedically crude. It's camp, but not the kind Porky's audiences would recognize.

The Decline of the American Empire1986

Both films build comedy from ensemble dynamics and character interaction rather than setup-punchline structure. Both trust that watching incompetent people scheme is inherently hilarious. Both say something true about human desire beneath the jokes.

A Canadian ensemble comedy about middle-aged academics scheming and bickering. Same spirit of misdirection, same faith that character interplay matters more than plot, same appetite for sexual comedy. Denis Arcand made the Porky's of dinner-party movies.

But It's intellectual and conversational where Porky's is physical. You're watching people talk about sex and morality instead of watching people try to have it. It requires patience with dialogue.