Virgin Territory is a 2007 romantic comedy film based upon Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron. It was released in France as Medieval Pie so when I heard that, I thought, "American Pie set in medieval times, this should be fun!" I was mistaken!
Hayden Christensen is Lorenzo di Lamberti, a scoundrel who deflowers any women he wants in 14th century Florence. After losing a game to Gerbino (Tim Roth) who now wants him dead, he hides out in a convent. Here he pretends to be deaf and dumb and deflowers many a woman during his time there. He comes across Pampinea (Mischa Barton) who he kisses while blindfolded and then becomes obsessed with finding her.
Pampinea is supposed to marry Count Dzerzhinsky (Matthew Rhys) but Gerbino wants her for himself, so she now has three men pursuing her. Along the way numerous members of Pampinea’s party lose various parts of their clothes or are found while bathing in springs which didn’t add anything to the movie other than some eye candy. Eventually Gerbino finds Pampinea and forces her to marry him, but Lorenzo shows up and the two duel, with Lorenzo receiving some help from the Count, and Lorenzo and Pampinea wind up “happily ever after.”
The film is clunky and just doesn’t make much sense; I will say that the sword fight at the end of the film was good and Christensen has retained the sword skills he learned from his time in the Star Wars Universe, but a good five minute sword fight and nudity don’t make a good film in my opinion. If I was still a teenager this might pass, but at 34 I need more in my films.
The extras on Virgin Territory are:
"Behind the Scenes of Virgin Territory", a promotional featurette that discusses the making of the film with the cast and crew. Producer Dino De Laurentiis lets us in on why this film was made — something period for the teens and their allowance money. If that’s the reason it’s not a very good one, and part of the reason why this movie isn’t good, but other films have been made for the same reason, I’m sure.
Article comments
1 - Lisa B.
i didn't really like this movie due to the fact that hayden kept kissing so many women. i mean wtf?! in my opinion he spends too much time kissing and having sex than actually trying to work on his acting skills. either way i still lust for him and will someday be his lover^^ if he even likes me...*sigh* i think about this guy WAY too much. anway if you're bored and want to just pass the time doing whatever, then watch this movie^^
2 - Robin Matthews
I must agree with the acting skills part, Lisa. He is definitely lacking, though my husband disagrees, saying he was pretty good in Star Wars II and III. My take: Now I know where Luke Skywalker got his whiny streak from.
3 - Jerry Ocampo
I viewed this movie over several days, it was so terrible that I couldn't see it through in one sitting. I really wanted to give it all the chances in the world - what with the lovely ladies - but it was no use. It's inane, pointless, gratuitous, badly-acted. No wonder it went straight to DVD in the US.