Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy

Stumbling upon this late last night on cable I decided to give it a go. This is the life of one of the longest surviving porn actors in the business.

Two things that struck me was that Ron seems like he's an extremely nice guy. He's the type of guy that you'd want at your party because he's so interested in having fun. The other thing that struck me was that despite the upbeat demeanor it was all terribly sad. Its not that the life is a bad thing, rather its simply that Ron is trying so hard to be "Ron - Superstar" and to break into mainstream movies that he's completely missed the chance of having anything approaching a what is considered a normal life, there is no girlfriend, wife or family, there is only the drive to be famous. You can sense the sadness in him, in talking about his girlfriends, the desire of kids. I also found it telling when he said that he looked for certain things at a party, and mentioned that food rated higher than women.

I liked the film, but was left both liking Ron more than before and being left clueless as to why we should care.

Definitely worth seeing

7 out of 10

Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy proves my point that you can always learn something from a documentary. I started watching this on a lark and figured it would be pretty mindless entertainment; and it was, but it was still fairly enjoyable. Scott Gill's documentary style wasn't anything ground breaking, rather it was pretty standard with straight interviews and photos. It was the subject who actually made this film as enjoyable as it was – as notorious as he is, he is actually pretty engaging at times, and it was interesting to see how a Jewish kid from New York who received a teaching degree eventually became a very unlikely porn star. His following is pretty rabid, and that's a good thing since he is full of self-promotion. What I thought would be a film solely worthy of a couple of eye rolls turned out to not be fantastic, but interesting nonetheless.

--Shelly

Imagine the most popular male porn star in the world being lonely and sad and you'll find Ron Jeremy. At least that's what I sense when viewing this film. Underneath all the hedonism and gaiety is a man who's dream of being a legitimate actor in Hollywood, goes unfulfilled. And it shows, too.

I wanted to laugh at this film, I really did, but I just couldn't do it knowing that he seems to be one of the loneliest guys on the planet. And I don't care how many women he's balled.

It seems the nature of the (porn) business doesn't allow for people to have meaningful relationships, and Ron is a perfect example of this. He knows he's getting up there in age. He knows he'll have to leave someday, so at least he has a plan, unlike most of the other victims who had a big time in the industry, only to see it all come crashing down.

It's a well-done documentary that isn't tasteless. It could of been, but it wisely isn't.

7 out of 10

This documentary was an enjoyable watch. Pretty much anybody who has seen a porno at one time or another in their life has seen Ron Jeremy. I have seen plenty over the years, but I particularly like his work in clothes-on roles in non-porn films, such as Citizen Toxie, Orgazmo, etc.

Here, we have an interesting look into Ron's personal life. We all know Ron for all of the women he's had sex with in his lifetime, despite having a less than perfect physical appearance. Or, as Ron puts it in this movie, he proves that "anyone can get laid!" Despite all the women, however, Ron's life is fairly rough. This film lets you take a look at Ron's PACKED schedule and gigantic book of phone numbers, and we see that this guy is ALWAYS on the road and is ALWAYS busy. All of the travel has got to be hard on his body (although Jenna Jameson will help soothe his wounds).

Basically, you'll end up cheering on Ron for all of the beautiful women he gets paid to {sleep with}, but you'll also feel sorry for him when you see how tough his life really is.

Ron Jeremy is the biggest (wink wink, nudge nudge) porn star in the world. With over 1600 adult films to his credit, Jeremy has been working in the adult film business for nearly a quarter of a century. One would expect a documentary about his life to be salacious sleazy stuff and while Porn Star does have elements of baseness (how could it not?) it chooses to focus on Ron Jeremy the man, not the movie stud. We learn that he holds a Master Degree in special education, and was once a teacher. All his friends talk about his legendary cheapness. Jeremy is very open in front of the camera, sometimes almost too much so. He can be a charming guy when he wants to, but there is an air of desperation that bleeds through his well constructed public persona. Director Scott J. Gill humanizes Jeremy and somehow makes you feel pity for a man who says he has slept with over 4000 women.