The Fluffer (2001) - ★★★

Director: Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland
Writers: Wash Westmoreland
Stars: Michael Cunio, Scott Gurney, Roxanne Day, Richard Riehle, Tim Bagley, Adina Porter, Robert Walden, Deborah Harry

Every once and a while, a movie really surprises me. The Fluffer surprised me because it turned out to be pretty good. I've been watching low-budget LGBTI films recently, and to be perfectly honest, most of them sucked balls... (not literally). Anyways, I think this is a pretty solid drama in terms of acting and storyline. It's far from perfect, but hey, anything's better than the movie Latter Days. There are two things that stand out to me in this film. One: Adina Porter's great performance as Silver, and Two: Scott Gurney's perfect body. Everything else is pretty much run-of-the-mill stuff, but I'm just ecstatic that I enjoyed seeing Fluffer from start to finish!

Just to clear things up straight away, there is no actual porn in this film whatsoever, and just one full-frontal penis shown. The story: Sean (Michael Cunio) is a young, amateur camera-man that moved to LA to try to make it big in the film industry. When he accidentally rents a gay-porno, he majorly crushes on the leading porn star, Jesse Rebel... Aka Mikey (Scott Gurney). Being young and reckless, he joins the company that makes Mikey's porno's and becomes their cameraman, just so he can work around Mikey. One thing leads to another, and he ends up becoming The Fluffer, which is a term used for the crew-member that gives blow-jobs to 'harden-up' the male porn stars. He does all of this in the hope of one day being in a relationship with a straight man that goes 'gay for pay.' It's not really a rude film, trust me, it's actually a decent drama!

Scott Gurney is just... wow.

For once, the two leading actors in a low-budget gay movie gave good performances! HUZZAH! Michael Cunio played quite a naive and love-stricken man, but he was really cute and likeable. I can't recall a scene where I questioned the calibre of his performance. What surprised me even more was Scott Gurney's performance as the straight gay-porn star. He gave a pretty good performance too... one that was overshadowed by the sheer beauty that is his appearance. No wonder Sean fell in love with him. Their chemistry was great with each other, and really good with the rest of the cast. Let's just say that the performances were pretty 'good' all round.

Roxanne Day and Blondie give great performances in this low-budget glam-dram.

Here's the interesting part. BLONDIE IS IN THIS MOVIE! Oh yes, Debbie Harry herself makes an appearance for a scene or two as the owner of a strip-joint. She should seriously consider becoming an actress, because from what I saw, she's a natural.

Adina Porter from TV's 'True Blood'

Richard Riehle.

Richard Riehle plays a pretty big role too, and he's one of my favourite comedic actors! I never thought I'd see the day where he'd play a gay-porn director... but that day has come. He gets massive respect from me for doing it! Another huge surprise was to see Adina Porter, an actress who's well known for playing the alcoholic, abusive mother of Tara on True Blood. I was trying and trying to remember who she was, then BAM! It hit me. She was great in The Fluffer, and I'm truly glad to see how far she's come since this low-budget film premiered.

There were little annoyances here and there throughout The Fluffer, but I really enjoyed this movie. As far as low-budget gay-themed movies go, I'd put this up there as one of the better ones. If you're interested in gay-romance/drama angles and good looking men, then I'd say this is the movie for you. Otherwise I'd give this one a miss, because there's nothing special other than the small parts from well known actors.