This feature from the newish Hard Art label is an anomaly: a porn film that is made as if the gonzo and streaming revolutions of the past two decades never occurred. It's heavily story/character-driven, features Old School XXX scenes that run more like 10 minutes long than the current 20 to 45 minute range, and doesn't even parse on DVD into small increments, only viewable in three Acts.
Storytelling recalls ancient porn, dating back to those Roadshow exploitation films of the 1930s and 1940s, as well as '60s softcore features. Unfamiliar leading lady Niki Snow (typical of cast that does not include any big-name actresses) is winning as a small town girl (from Ames, Iowa) who heads to Tinsel Town in search of an acting career. Extremely corny script credited to director "Sally Forth" has one Hollywood cliche piled on another for the duration of the movie: she can't get work, is confronted with Casting Couch setbacks, finally stoops to porn to pay her rent, gets a break in Scream Queen horror movie roles, and finally is on the verge of a big break.
Her audition for movie magnate Herb Weinstock in Act III finally brings the show to its raison d'etre: the inevitable movie about the recent Harvey Weinstein sex scandal. One of the more familiar actors who appears frequently in NonSex roles in porn, James Bartholet, is not only the executive producer of "Sexual Harassment" but plays the Weinstein knock-off role, and surprisingly has a hardcore sex scene, perhaps the first of his long "observer" role as the odd man out in XXX content. He gets a blow job from an intern (played by Destiny Love). Unfortunately, Bartholet's portrayal of Harvey is overacted and phony, having little to do with the famous real-life producer, just making him out to be a corny mean boss and hissable womanizer. Sloppy credits misspell his stage name as Bartolet to boot.
Another porn industry veteran Jake Jacobs gets many credits as well as a featured role as another cliche, the Adult Cinema agent, for which he also receives a blow job (performed by Payton Sin Claire, who is somehow omitted from the closing credits). There are many brief cameos by instantly identifiable porn players, ranging from veteran Eric John to currently busy MILF Silvia Saige.
Whoever "Sally Forth" is (my guess would be some quasi-mainstreamer currently dabbling in porn via Hard Art), she/he directs the sex scenes poorly, with deep throat and gagging repeated so often as to become redundant. Besides Niki, who deserves other acting roles rather than a gonzo career, Latina actress Claudia Foxxx impresses in her hot interracial sex scene with big-dicked "Black Ken", who is a typically wooden non-actor. Robbie Echo and Chad White are the ringers in a cast of otherwise no-namers.
