User reviews

This is a rather pleasant little outing from the Troma team. I was, frankly, a bit let down by its tameness. Even some of the acting was good! The film purports to be a satire in the "spririt" of Spinal Tap, but that vein was mined years ago by better films. That being said, any film that ends with an amateur production of Hamlet, staged in a nursing home, at least has its heart in the right place. The reactions of the seniors are genuinely touching. This from the team that gave you the Toxic Avenger! The story of Rich Longfellow's rise to stardom in the porn biz should have been a lot funnier, however. Shakespeare in and Out is no Boogie Nights, and Rich is no Dirk Diggler. But, if you've got eighty minutes to kill some night, it's better than reruns of Law and Order.

Before you view this Troma-distributed mockumentary, it's easy to imagine that you are about to see a bawdy, campy, semi-ironic soft porn movie. If that is the movie you want to see, then you will be disappointed. However, what you will see is a gentle, charming story that, despite its porn industry setting, contains surprisingly little gratuitous nudity.

This is not a wacky, laugh-a-minute comedy; rather, Writer/Director Peter Shushtari has chosen to take the route of low-key comedy-drama. The cast of little-known actors deliver performances which fit perfectly into the mock-documentary style, as does the funny but believable dialogue. This movie is well worth your time.