The internet is used for a lot of things: email, research, shopping and social networking; but what would it be without porn? And who knew that the origin story of internet porn would be so enthralling?
Actually, anything involving porn is captivating. And depending on what kind of person you are, it can captivate you or it can captivate you – if ya know what I mean.
Director/writer George Gallo teamed up with fellow screenwriter Andy Weiss to tell give us a film based on the true story that follows business fix-it man Jack Harris (played with an even handed demeanor by Luke Wilson) as he helps out two genius psychos with an affinity for really tasteless Ed Hardy-esque sleazy club gear. The duo in question is Wayne Beering (Giovanni Ribisi) and Buck Dolby (Gabriel Macht) and they have created a way to sell adult entertainment (a.k.a. PORN) on the internet. Jack eventually gets caught up in the wild crazy world of drug-induced mobster action filled with porn stars.
The moral of this story is clear: don’t get involved in the porn business or else it will end in involvement with the Russian mob. Well – I take that back – don’t get involved in the porn business with some crazy-ass irresponsible guys who look like Vegas vomited all over them – a look and attitude that Ribisi and Macht portray well.
Surprisingly engrossing (and almost saga-like), Middle Men is not really about the porn. If you take away the porn, it’s a voyeuristic story about a good guy who gets involved in some bad business and you know he is doomed from the beginning. You want to root for him, but the homeboy is just making some bad decisions despite his happy, rich Texas family home with his lovely wife Diana (Jacinda Barrett – Real World London represent!).
The film has given me a new appreciation for the world of internet porn. Whether it is good or not has yet to be decided, but I know I have some sort of appreciation for it. I mean, the guys who created it presented the methodology for the world to shop online – the world should at least recognize that, right?
The movie flows in the “give me my money or else” vein and it also beats us over the head with con-man goodness which makes porn un-fun as opposed to fun.
Middle Men strips the laquer off of this naughty and enjoyably dirty world to expose a world that is not so hot – which really isn’t that much of surprise. Even so, it is so morbidly engaging to see the building of this empire at the expense of an honest man. Does that make me a bad person?
And P.S. I like that I used the word “porn” 12 times in this post. Let’s make it an uneven 13: PORN.
- Excited
- Fascinated
- Amused
- Bored
- Sad
- Angry
