Reality & Fantasy

Writer/producer/director Jerry Ross does a creditable job in examining mainstream versus porn Hollywood issues in this unusual version of success in La La Land. As reflected in the movie's title, he has fun mirroring reality with fiction.

Jon Dough is the central character, quite a cad as demonstrated in the openng "morning after" scenes where he tells the woman that he slept with (Kaitlyn Ashley) some bad news. He can't remember anything about their night together as he was drunk, and his promise to help the aspiring starlet with her movie career was just b.s.

Ross fleshes out an interesting set of characters, at first seeming to be cliche figures, but brought to life by talent like Ashley, Kylie Ireland and Summer Knight. Summer is an aspiring screenwriter, and in the movie's central conceit (which I greatly enjoyed), she is simultaneously writing a porn script that seems to be about the same characters she is interacting with and that we're watching have sex and various problems. By film's end, the issue of what's real and what is merely Summer's invention is quite tantalizing to ponder.

Dough's problems include a severe gambling habit (right out of writer James Toback's oeuvre, especially his great James Caan movie "The Gambler"), while Kaitlyn becomes torn between her real, jealous boyfriend T. T. Boy, and the new lover Dough who can help her career. Dough's movie partner Steve Drake has a problem finding a suitable replacement leading lady for their film project, and it's clear from the outset that Kaitlyn is fated to fill that bill, just in time for a fairly happy ending for everyone concerned. Another key role has scene stealer Kylie Ireland as Summer's lesbian roommate, who manages to seduce her on cue.

The best irony here, showing Ross's true talent, is that at one point Summer's porn screenplay titled "Fantasy & Reality" causes her to lose a coveted mainstream rewriting job when Kylie mistakenly submits it as a sample of Summer's work to mainstream executives, whose angry reaction is "we don't hire porn people". Yet that same script gets Jon Dough's attention on the rebound and he's so impressed that he hires Summer to rewrite it, leaving out the porn scenes, as the vehicle that will make Kaitlyn a (mainstream) star! And we, the porn audience, have just, perhaps, watched her unexpurgated script brought to life in this porn video titled "Fantasy and Reality".