Chloe was my main reason to watch this oldie from Vivid, and I wasn't disappointed, as she excelled both in the acting and "sex performer" departments. This is an unusual feature, produced by Paul Thomas and directed by cameraman Ralph Parfait, but delivering a melancholy look at the Adult Biz.
There's no writing credit: that turns out to be an interesting wrinkle I'll explain at the end of this review. Main character is a writer, played by Tyce Bune who remains an enigmatic actor in the genre who I've been watching a lot lately as I examine circa Turn of this Century porn.
He's visiting from New York the local L.A. set where the director Michael J. Cox is directing Bune's script for "Rubdown", an Oiler starring Chloe and Bobby Vitale. Lots of banter concerns the industry and how XXX films are made, with Cox's wife Kira Kener asking early wondering why her hubby doesn't concentrate on big-budget movies instead of making a lot of gonzo cheapies.
Two decades later this topic has been preempted by gonzo and all-sex having, per Gresham's Law, more or less driven all the big-budget projects out of the porn market. But when this was made in 2000, such subject matter was highly relevant, as PT (note that the director played by Cox is named TJ) was riding high at Vivid with many a big-budget shot-on-film movie, while using many pseudonyms to direct hundreds of gonzo quickies in between.
"True Blue" is the name of Cox's next project which he wants Bune to write. We watch the filming of "Rubdown" and the interaction of the players, all while Bune ruminates on his career. He hires an escort/hooker (the beautiful April) and she shows interest in him, so Bune pours out some of his true feelings -how he wanted to be a mainstream writer but turned to porn to pay the bills and ended up exclusively working in Adult, as that was what he was good at. By film's end, you can really sense his sadness and disillusionment.
Along the way, Kener, as a bonafide Vivid contract superstar, delivers her busty hot sex for the fans, as does Chloe with her anal sex specialty. Besides April, there's also a solid lesbian scene from mega- bosomy Renee LaRue paired with Dayton, as Chloe masturbates watching them through a peepshow glass on her own time off-set.
Herschel Savage gives a knowing turn as a fetish porn king, known as a Lion Tamer, as he puts ladies through bondage and light S&M routines. Oddest casting is Marc Wallice popping up in a NonSex role with a short haircut for a change, portraying a still photographer on set. I assume that PT gave him this token role as a sop following the end of Wallice's active porn career due to his HIV-positive scandal a couple years earlier.
Bittersweet ending is very well staged, as Bune leaves the set, and his notebook of his thoughts and screen writing ideas is left behind (whether by accident, or significantly by design). Chloe finds it and after checking it briefly tosses it idly on the floor and departs -The End.
Not so much irony but actually fitting is the fact that this effective film depicting the plight of the writer in an industry that dismisses the writer's contribution gives no screen credit to the writer of the piece.
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