Porn Spoofs Make Blue Movies an Easy Sell

Here’s the blunt truth of it: Even a major prude could probably derive enjoyment from Blue Movies, a well-produced little comedy series about the behind-the-scenes world of pornography, and as I’ve mentioned in the past, I’m no puritan.

Blue Movies, which is well-produced, tightly written, and occasionally (though not always) hilarious, depicts the world of Pornamount Pictures, a studio that specializes in adult adaptations of films like Forrest Gump, The Shawshank Redemption and The Dark Knight (the porn version of that film being titled The Dark Night Full of Smokin’ Hot Orgies — “Let’s make Christopher Nolan proud!” shouts the director). The show, told from the point of view of new intern Tom (Beck Bennett), who bumbled onto the set believing that he was actually starting an internship at Paramount, is seemingly focused around these XXX-rated satires of Oscar winners (trailers for which are available separately), but is at its best during the behind-the-scenes sequences, which are just like any Hollywood satire, except with more naked people.

However, while dealing with mature subject matter, Blue Movies is surprisingly clean, and the more explicit material tends to be of a verbal, not visual, nature. And while the female characters could all too easily have fallen into awful stereotypes, they’re actually not that bad. One of them even keeps her clothes on! (That’d be Sascha Alexander as the tough and funny Anna, who plays an important role as mentor to Tom and assistant to Max.) The only weak link of the series is Jareb Dauplaise as Max, who’s a committed performer but simply isn’t that believable as a porn kingpin — mainly because he looks like he’s about 22 years old.

A personal disclaimer: I once spent a few hours on the set of an adult film shoot (which was a helluva education, let me tell you), and while I’m not going to demand any sort of accuracy from a comedy satire, it does seem important to me to point out that quite a bit of pornography isn’t shot in a studio, bur rather in so-called “porn houses,” which are either private residences or specially held properties owned by location companies and leased to productions. And the crew on a porn set covers a wide range of ages and experiences, many of whom, like bumbling intern Tom, aspire to work in mainstream entertainment and are using porn as a stepping stone to a legit career — a career arc that has precedent. Omitting that latter fact feels like a major oversight, though plays well with the series’ tongue-in-cheek celebration of pornography as an art form.

You could perhaps draw a parallel between Max’s efforts to elevate the medium to that of the web series world, struggling to be taken seriously on a creative level while also achieving financial success — except that Max has sex on his side. He has it much easier.