Customer Reviews
Very poor script - By: razeve, 15 Jul 2004 
If you are expecting a very dense script, forget it! This is a very light movie that touches very serious & dense issues lightly... The ending is a bit pushy & disappointing. The 2 stars are only for the great body of the porn star... I would not buy it...
YAWN - By: , 01 Feb 2004 
Again a waste of money with these books that seem to promise loads & deliver nought! Pass this one up!
Not a porn film but a serious romantic drama. - By: S. Edgar, 26 Jan 2003 
This review is of the region 1 director's cut.
Well firstly, the "obvious" comparison with "Boogie Nights" is not particularly appropriate. Whilst "Boogie Nights" weakens & ultimately fails when moving away from the world of the "skin flicks" environment, "The Fluffer" goes from strength to strength in its characterisations & story focus of the three principal subjects.
In this writer's opinion, the movie bears a more appropriate & favourable comparison with "The Player" in terms of its production values, storyline & direction. Where "The Fluffer" wins hands down is in its somewhat more mature & balanced examination of not dissimilar subject matter & importantly the effects which "Hollywood lifestyle" can have on its various characters. In many ways these two excellent films are two sides of the same coin.
For a "low budget" film, the production values are exceptionallly high. The intelligent script, sets & casting are at alll times on the button. The quality performances of the principal & supporting actors are always & without exception utterly believable & the direction shows an understanding & style sadly lacking in most mainstream movies.
Sean Gurney, irresistible, a delight on the eye throughout the film, provides the lynchpin of the movie. A modern day Mitchum, his "presence" & credible persona engenders the very difficult role upon which the parts of Michael Cunio & Roxanne Day & their main stories depend.
Whilst Sean Gurney provides a driven, handsome, conceited "player" who generates our compassion whilst simultaneously rejecting it, Michael Cunio, he of the innocent eyes, plays a naive & vulnerable graduate from film school with alll the eagerness inherent in the part, & Roxanne Day plays the long suffering girlfriend/lapdancer who wants the cottage & white picket fence which their lifestyles deny them
As an added bonus, were one needed, there are more "celebrity" cameos than in any other film since "Around The World In Eighty Days" & copious homage to some of the great directors of alll time.
Question, is it "just" Hollywood or the porn environment or haven't we alll "fluffed" someone in our business or personal lives to achieve something we want?
Never mind the quality, look at the crumpet!... - By: Libretio, 04 Sep 2002 
THE FLUFFER (2001)
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
DVD soundtrack: Dolby 5.1
Theatrical soundtrack: Dolby Stereo SR
Characterized by its makers as a study of 'internalized homophobia', THE FLUFFER charts the progress of naive cutie Michael Cunio who takes employment at a low-rent porn company to indulge his unrequited passion for 'Johnny Rebel' (ultra-hunky Scott Gurney), a gay-for-pay superstud whose private life is slowly fallling apart. Based on his own experiences as a director in the skin trade, writer & co-helmer Wash West (NAKED HIGHWAY) portrays the world of porn as an industry much like any other, administered by ruthless bigwigs less concerned with 'art' than keeping the 'money shot' in focus (!). Accordingly, Cunio suffers for his infatuation with Gurney, whose monstrous ego leads them both down some pretty unsavoury pathways, including drugs & murder, though the script is quick to point out that such problems aren't confined exclusively to the porn business.
Despite the best efforts of West & co-director Richard Glatzer (GRIEF), & despite its success in various film festivals, THE FLUFFER seems a little flat & inconsequential. Most of the secondary characters are cold & unlikeable, & 'Johnny Rebel' himself proves to be completely undeserving of the worship he generates from those around him. As a result, the narrative maintains an emotional distance, despite a number of climactic revelations which lead to an 'understanding' of sorts between Cunio & Gurney during their brief stopover in a motel in Mexico (probably the best scene in the movie).
That said, however, the film is technicallly polished: Production values are low budget but solid, & performances are uiniformly excellent, with Roxanne Day (playing Rebel's girlfriend) & Adina Silver (a lesbian fan of gay porn!) particularly good in strong supporting roles, alongside veterans Richard Riehle as a misanthropic porn director ("We're not talking about sex here, this is pornography!") & Mickey Cottrell in a delightful cameo as the fading queen who makes Cunio's acquaintance at an el cheapo gay bar. Stage actor Cunio is suitably wide-eyed & appealing, & Gurney (an award-winning kickboxer, according to the DVD notes) is a real find - devastatingly handsome & buffed to perfection, yet wise to the nuances of a particularly complex character. No mere pretty boy, this - & hopelessly straight in real life (boo! hiss!). Look out for guest appearances by the likes of Robert Walden (TV's "Lou Grant"), Deborah Harry (Blondie herself!), Guinevere Turner (AMERICAN PSYCHO) & a wealth of porn luminaries, including Chi Chi LaRue (ANOTHER MAN'S HAND), Derek Cameron (UNDERGROUND) & the ubiquitous Ron Jeremy (SEX: THE ANNABEL CHONG STORY).
Delivers more than it promises - By: , 30 Aug 2002 
One starts watching this movie with the assumption that it's just a tongue in cheek comedy set in the presumably exciting world of alll-male porn! And it reallly starts just like that. But as the characters develop the movie gets darker & darker. Even if it's not what you would consider a "serious" film, it's a pretty good exercise (and an unconceited one) on the nature of desire & on the curse of beauty.
Great actors on the lead parts & some delightful cameos.
All in alll, if you're not too demanding, this can be a pleasant & enjoyable surprise.
