We don’t often revisit shows we’ve already reviewed, but when a series goes on to rack up 1.8 million views with its first episode, it’s probably worth checking out the second. The newest installment of James Gunn’s PG Porn, Roadside ASS-istance, was released Jan. 23 on Spike, and has since been watched over 500,000 times by Sasha Grey fans interested in seeing the porn star flex her comedic muscles. Grey (who’s making a real effort at crossing over into mainstream films these days) needs to get her car looked at — and Gunn himself is just the guy to do it.
In my initial review of PG Porn, I criticized the show for not pushing the parody element of the concept hard enough, but the blatant double entendres and deadpan misunderstandings make Roadside ASS-istance more of a proper comedy than the first episode, Nailing Your Wife, mainly thanks to Gunn’s character’s clueless responses to Grey’s come-ons. “Why would I use my penis to fix your car?” he asks when Grey inquires about his “big tools.” “It’s all squishy — that would hurt.”
A few weeks ago, someone left a comment on my first review questioning whether or not I was the most objective person to cover the series, given the fact that I am a “female” and thus not the series’ target audience. But my gender doesn’t blind me to praising PG Porn for its high-quality production values, including the video distortion and tape glitches meant to simulate the experience of watching an old-school VHS cassette. And it also doesn’t prevent me from knowing that Gunn and his creative team have in many ways accurately nailed the trashysexyfun of mainstream porn. (Because of course I’ve seen porn — I’m a human being with cable TV and access to the Internet, after all.)
It’s still hard to get a grasp on PG Porn — mainly because its slogan, “For people who like everything about porn… except the sex,” is catchy but pretty much untrue. People who like everything about porn except the sex should go watch the G-rated Debbie Does Dallas. People who want porn satire, though, won’t be disappointed by PG Porn. So long as it actually keeps being, you know, funny.
