Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

The Fluffer (2001) Directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland

Sean: Silver, what do you think happens with people in porn?
Silver: What do you mean?
Sean: Just seems to mess people up.
Silver: Working at K-Mart messes people up. Working in Hollywood messes people up.
Sean: That's true.
Silver: It's an adult industry. Gotta be an adult to deal with it.

Warning: This movie is about the gay porn industry.  Therefore you might expect it to be all about rampant promiscuity and the exchange of bodily fluids.  You will be disappointed.

What this story is really about is desire.  Sean (Michael Cunio) thinks he is renting Citizen Kane, but it is actually Citizen Cum, and Sean develops a fascination with porn star Johnny Rebel (Scott Gurney).  Sean, an aspiring Cinematographer, applies at Men of Janus Films (Roman god of entrances and exits) and is hired to film porn.  One of the side jobs is fluffing his idol, Johnny.  (Fluffing is a technical term from the industry which refers to a person whose job it is to put a stiff breeze in the old windsock, if you take my meaning.)  Sounds like heaven, right?

Unfortunately, Johnny's real name is Micky Racini, and he is gay for pay.  He is a straight boy who just does gay porn because it pays a lot better.  He has a girlfriend, Julie Desponsio (aka Babylon) (Roxanne Day), a stripper.  Further, as the story unfolds, Micky is revealed as an insensitive, self absorbed basturd who does not deserve Julie, much less Sean.

Yet, Sean can't let him go.  There is a delightful device in the movie; when Sean first saw Johnny, he tried to rewind the tape.  He stole the batteries from his clock, which is then stuck at 9:29.  This number shows up several more times, and it is not until Sean breaks free that any clock makes it to 9:30.  This really shows how he is stuck, on his knees, in a nonreciprocal relationship.

There are several great performances in this movie in the minor roles, Robert Walden as former porn star turned producer Chad Cox, the delightfully callus Richard Riehle as Sam the director, Adina Porter as Sean's work buddy Silver, and Debby Harry as the manager of Babylon's strip club.  Of course, the real chemistry is in the triangle of Sean Micky and Julie.

The cinematography is solid, even creative and the visuals are not hurt by Scott Gurney's sculpted physique and rock hard buttocks.  But the real story here is Sean's journey; he is taken for a ride by Mickey, and has to find his way back home again.  It's not so much a gay romance, as a coming of age story.  Tender, funny, and painful by turns, it shows how love, unrequited, unreturned and self love, can destroy us.  I highly recommend it.

This review is certified Lean-N-Mean.  It is also entered into Captain D's Good Movies Write Off.

Gay Movies:

La Mission***Burnt Money***8: The Mormon Propo$ition***In The Flesh***The Sensei***The 24th Day***Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon***ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction***East Side Story***Dorian Blues***Creatures From the Pink Lagoon***Satyricon***Ice Men***Richard O'Briens Rocky Horror Tribute Show***Prom Queen***The Kids are All Right***Between Love and Goodbye***The Mudge Boy***That Man: Peter Berlin***A Single Man***Almost Normal***Outing Riley***Outrage!***Law of Desire***Love is the Devil***Cowboy Junction***Horror in the Wind***Bedrooms and Hallways***Cut Sleeve Boys***Big Eden***For A Lost Soldier***Midnight Cowboy***Redwoods***The Massuer***Boy Culture***Breakfast With Scot***The Fluffer***Flesh***Little Ashes***L.I.E. ***Dorian Gray***9 Dead Gay Guys***Shank***I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry***Beautiful Boxer***Bangkok Love Story***Schoolboy Crush***Shelter***Back Soon***Dog Tags***Theft***The Mulligans***The Velvet Goldmine***Swashbuckler***Smoke Signals
***C'Thulhu***Milk***The Picture of Dorian Gray***Brideshead Revisited***Notes on a Scandal***RocknRolla***Mamma Mia!
***Priscillia: Queen of the Desert***The History Boys***Brokeback Mountain***The Broken Hearts Club*** Yaji and Kita: Midnight Pilgrims ***Surge of Power ***In & Out ***Mambo Italiano ***Touch of Pink ***To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar ***Wolves of Kromer ***Rocky Horror Picture Show ***Taboo ***Deathtrap 


Gay Themed Series:

Spartacus: Blood and Sand
Dante's Cove
Hex
Carnivale Season One
Carnivale Season Two
Rome Season One
Rome Season Two
True Blood
True Blood: Season Two
The Book of Daniel: The Complete Series
Torchwood: Children of Earth
Torchwood: Season One


Gay Animation:

Pirate's Booty***Sensitive Pornograph***Loveless: The Complete Series***Loveless: Hope on the Run***Loveless: Soul of Chains***Loveless: Lost and Found***Embracing Love: A Cicada in Winter***Embracing Love: Cherished Spring ***Stonewall & Riot***Drawn Together Movie: The Movie***Drawn Together: Season 2***Drawn Together: Season 3

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good Date Movie
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age