Directed by Jay Buim
Written by Jay Buim, Susan Juvet, and Rachel Gayle Webster
Starring Asia Lee Boostani, Nina Tarr, Khan Baykal, Drew Freed, Mo Stark, Lexie Mountain
Runtime: 1 hour 38 minutes
Unrated
Available digitally March 8

by Melissa Strong, Contributor

Part mockumentary, part sincere exploration of utopian possibilities and limitations, Adventures in Success centers on an organization with an identity crisis. Is it a wellness startup? A sex cult? Both? Neither? The group aims to heal the earth by prioritizing female pleasure through a ritualized female erotic massage called “jilling off.” As a film, Adventures in Success shares the same of the organization at its center, but its unusual premise and all-in acting make it worth a watch for the curious as well as fans of cringeworthy parodies.

Adventures in Success begins with the departure of one follower/employee and the arrival of another. Newcomer Erica (Yaz Perea-Beltran) embodies the viewer’s perspective as she meets leader Pegasus “Peggy” Appleyard (Lexie Mountain, who is also a recording artist),and her five acolytes. Erica tries to retain her optimism and open mind in unfamiliar surroundings with strange people with zero boundaries and uncomfortable group dynamics. Eventually they make a convert of Erica, transforming her healthy dose of skepticism into the unquestioning faith of a true believer.

Writer/director/producer Jay Buim deftly captures the “jilling off” ritual, in which hypnotic guided meditation and breathwork culminate in extended female orgasms. The camera pans quickly around the ritual room, lingering on faces. Men give and women receive, but how this heals the earth or even the seekers remains unclear. And that’s the point: just as Erica comes on board, other group members begin to express doubt and dissatisfaction. For them, the ritual, their charismatic leader, and breadcrumbs of her attention just aren’t enough anymore. To make matters worse, Peggy has a secret – her organization has run out of money. New funding, Peggy believes, will solve all the problems. But tensions only escalate as the group seeks support from the townspeople and prepares to court financial backers at a health and wellness expo.

Adventures in Success depicts the cult members in a cinéma vérité-like style, while the townies sometimes address the camera in mock-interview fashion. This helps to develop the townies’ characters while preserving the cult’s mysteries and the film’s pacing. The insertion of a music video in which Peggy covers Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m On Fire” is a head scratcher, though. Acting highlights include Mo Stark’s and Perea-Beltran’s turns as cult followers and Bobby Rackleff’s performance as an antagonistic townie. Susan Juvet and Maximilian Rauber add nuance to the rift between Peggy’s offbeat, hippie-dippy organization and the surrounding community. Juvet plays Rackleff’s put-upon girlfriend, and Rauber is her coworker at a hair salon. These two don’t take issue with the “jilling off” community. However, her lavender lipstick and his sexual orientation made them the town weirdos before the arrival of Peggy et al., and they liked it better that way.

In his director’s statement, Buim identifies real-life cults as part of his inspiration. He adds that his goal in Adventures in Success is “to expose the hypocrisy of the patriarchy, explore our problematic relationships with sex and intimacy, and reflect upon the crushing death of our dreams for a brighter future.” These are admirable goals, but the movie doesn’t live up to them. Adventures in Success dashed my excitement about the cinematic rarity of a female cult leader. Instead, Peggy proves to be as controlling and narcissistic as any man in her position, yet much less scary. Her followers are as desperate and confused as most people lured into cults. What happened to healing the earth? And doesn’t “jilling off” mean something different than it does in this movie? Adventures in Success aims high, but it is not greater than the sum of its parts.