Review: Love Shack DVD

STUDIO: Strand Releasing | DIRECTOR: Gregg Sacon, Michael B. Silver | CAST: Christopher Boyer, Molly Hagan, Pete Gardner, Lindsey Stoddard, Amberlee Colson
RELEASE DATE: 11/23/10 | PRICE: DVD $24.99
BONUSES: deleted scenes, gallery of film posters
SPECS: NR | 87 min. | Comedy | widescreen | stereo

RATINGS (out of 5): Movie | Audio | Video | Overall

Love Shack, the latest comedy to center around the adult film industry, takes all those jokes about porno movies and porn stars that you’ve heard for years and serves them up in mockumentary format. The results are frequently silly but sometimes pretty funny.

When legendary porn producer Mo Saltzman dies (his legacy includes the ground-breaking musical porno Diddler on the Roof), fellow filmmaker Mack Hollister (Christopher Boyer of TV’s L.A. Heat) gets Mo’s script and storyboards for what would would have been his magnum opus — Dial M for Milk Jugs. Mack embarks on an all-star production of the film as a testament to Saltzman’s X-rated genius. Love Shack is the “documentary” of the making of the film that Saltzman didn’t have a chance to make before he died.

There are some funny bits in this movie (including a frame-by-frame analysis of a scratchy porn loop like it’s the Zapruder film), and the documentary flourishes are on-target (fake magazine clippings, old video clips and snapshots and talking head testimonials are all present), but Love Shack doesn’t have the subtlety or crackle of mock documentary king Christopher Guest’s work (Waiting for Guffman, A Mighty Wind). Nor does it have Guest’s pool of talent, though TV actors Molly Hagan and Pete Gardner stand out as a retired porn couple who decide to give it one more go … for Mo.

Of course, there are a couple of obligatory adult star cameos (porn legend Nina Hartley and near-legend Steven St. Croix) and a quick but sexy appearance by Diora Baird (Night of the Demons).

But be warned, there’s no nudity in Love Shack. And the frequent humping scenes aren’t of a particularly sexy nature, so don’t let the lack of a rating give you the impression that there’s a lot of sex and nudity in the movie.

Like the recent Finding Bliss and Deep in the Valley, Love Shack takes a spirited and generally positive view of the adult industry. Now that the porn business is joked about on prime-time sitcoms and adult stars are popping up more and more in mainstream entertainment, it’s not a surprise that these latest films are considerably lighter than Wonderland, Boogie Nights and other looks at the industry from the last decade.

Bonus features on the DVD include a few deleted scenes and a giggle-worthy poster gallery of Saltzman’s films, which include Cock-A-Doodle-Don’t, It Came From Uranus and nearly two dozen other titles that you and your friends might have come up with given the proper alcohol and mood.

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