X (2022) / YMMV - TV Tropes

Alternative Character Interpretation:
- What was Lorraine's motivation for joining the film? Did the others genuinely convince her about their lifestyle enough to make her want to try it, or was it her way of trying to prove a point to RJ?
- Chelsea from Dead Meat suggested on her podcast that RJ's negative reaction to Lorraine joining the film was not only him not wanting his girlfriend in a porno, but also, that in that moment, he is forced into the realization that women are sexual beings beyond when they're just sexualized by men, and that his girlfriend has sexual curiosities and appetites that are outside of his own or even of his comfort zone.
- Chelsea also posits that RJ's drive to make a "good dirty movie" and elevate the production to "true cinema" is him lying to himself so he doesn't have to admit he's really just shooting a porno for a paycheck. Lorraine wanting to be in the movie not only forces him to look at her and their relationship in a new light, but admit to himself that he's just making smut. After all, if he knew he was making an artistic masterpiece, wouldn't he want his girlfriend in it?
Anvilicious: The film is not subtle about its themes of sex, aging and how it's an allegory for Hollywood. A major criticism of the film is that while it does bring up interesting topics and stances on those topics, the dialogue comes across as a little too on-the-nose in its writing and delivery.
Memetic Mutation: "The horror of interracial sex"^Explanation
Narm: Pearl and Howard's sex scene, which almost seems like it was intentionally comical (especially once Pearl starts imitating Bobby-Lynne's earlier fake Immodest Orgasm) if that wouldn't jarringly clash with the film's purported themes.
She Really Can Act: Mia Goth received immense praise for her Acting for Two, managing to make Pearl and Maxine two completely different characters in body language and vocal delivery, not to mention being able to act through the heavy makeup and generally being able to play both a likable heroine and a disturbing villain. The mostly seamless blending of her two characters also deserves credits.
Signature Scene: Lorraine's bloodcurdling scream in reaction to the corpse chained up in the basement, with Jenna Ortega's horrified face becoming one of the most iconic images used in promotion for the film.
Unintentionally Sympathetic: Everything from the movie's theme to the way the scene is shot, being the first and most brutal and prolonged death, including the context — being the only victim who wasn't trying to help someone else at the time of death or capture — is clearly meant to portray that RJ's death as an example of The Scourge of God common in the slasher films this movie satirizes, but with the intention of showing the "scourge" in this case to be "justified" instead of the outdated Sex Signals Death of earlier slashers (in fact, he's deemed a jerkass, further settling it). However, his only "sin" is not liking that his partner not only just cheated on him, but he was peer pressured to try accepting the cheating as a good thing; and not liking such a situation is a perfectly normal thing to feel. One can also argue that RJ is well aware of how sleazy the porno industry is and understandably doesn't want his girlfriend to be around that. Or for that matter be okay with his girlfriend doing porno movies just because some of the other porn actors are okay with their partners doing it.
The Woobie: Pretty much everyone on the film crew. They are mostly decent people who all try to help out the old couple only to find out that No Good Deed Goes Unpunished by dying horrible deaths.
Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Pearl. Even before the prequel expanded her backstory, it's made clear here that, her mental issues aside, she's not an inherently evil person but someone who once had her own dreams of stardom and love that were crushed by misfortune, war, things just not working out, and a lifetime of unhappiness. And then she gets run over by a truck.

YMMV / X (2022)

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