The mockumentary is a touchy subgenre. There are the occasional moments of brilliance like This is Spinal Tap but many of these films end up being dreadfully unfunny and, in my opinion, pointless. Aside from Living in Oblivion and the uneven ...And God Spoke, mockumentaries about the film industry have been unmemorable and, frankly, kind of lame. It is for this reason that I was somewhat skeptical about a mockumentary about the porn industry from an unknown writer/director. The fact that Jonathan Liebert has not done a lot may be why this movie does not try to be more clever than it needs to be and ends up being a lighthearted and entertaining look at the people behind adult films.

Mark DeCarlo stars as Chuck Steak, a successful low budget porn producer that was a like a cross between Lloyd Kaufman and Jack Horner from Boogie Nights. Chuck agrees to allow a documentary filmmaker named Bernard (Jay Michael Ferguson) make a film about his studio and grants him full access to their latest production. Bernard soon meets the rest of the characters including a jaded older starlet (Priscilla Barnes), a young and naive new girl/computer whiz named Pursey (Lisa Jay), a kinda dumb mustachioed male lead (Jack Kyle), and a guy with a freakishly long three and a half foot (!) penis (Adrian Zmed). As Bernard gets to know the various players, he finds himself getting involved in their lives while also discovering some secrets of porn such as how pineapple juice can make sperm taste better and how one of the Lumiere brothers may or may not have invented the 'money shot'. He later finds himself falling for the young actress and getting in the middle of a complicated family situation while attempting to keep on track and focus on the subject at hand.

What makes this work is the characters. While there are a few funny mishaps, this is a film about a group of people who just happen to be in the porn business. The comedic elements keep the mood light but I found myself caring about the characters quite quickly. Often times in mockumentaries, the viewer can begin to feel as though they are watching an inside joke that they don't get. I never felt like this in this movie and it is an extremely clean take on the porn business that would only offend the more prudish members of society. This was not intended to be a grim expose but more of a good-natured frolic with a mood that you would imagine may have surrounding the making of adult classics like Flesh Gordon or Alice in Wonderland. If they had not specified that it was a porn film and that the goal of the director was to shoot the world's biggest orgy, I would have sworn that this was a veiled tribute to Mr. Kaufman and Troma studios as I could not get Kaufman out of my head from the moment that Chuck Steak was introduced. We also get a Star Wars parody, ninjas, a dominatrix fluffer, and some hilarious dialogue from Barnes as she plays a nymphomaniac android (a long way from "Three's Company").

It's too bad that more people don't know about this movie. It seems like something that should have received a bit of attention amongst b-movie fans but has gone unnoticed. I have to admit, my draw to this movie was the 'where are they now' curiosity to see what Zmed has been up to since "T.J. Hooker" and Grease 2 and to see what Barnes has been up to since "Three's Company". I am happy that director Liebert was able to land these two because if he did not, I would probably have missed this one. Proof positive that hiring a name no matter how seemingly insignificant they may be can make a difference. Jay Michael Ferguson and Lisa Jay are great as the romantic leads and sold their romance with ease. It doesn't hurt that Jay is unbearably cute. I hope Liebert continues to make movies because this was a good one. (Josh Pasnak, 3/3/08)

Directed By: Jonathan Liebert.
Written By: Jonathan Liebert.

Starring: Jay Michael Ferguson, Lisa Jay, Mark DeCarlo, Priscilla Barnes.