The Screwman Show

Released soon after its subject "The Truman Show", this porn parody does not aim at laughs, but merely presents a XXX version of the Jim Carrey movie. Its obscurity is such that I had to add it to IMDb 25 years overdue this week.

First major difference is that the lead Carrey role is filled by Tony Martino, who merely has a sex scene -no real acting or humor involved. Filmmaker Stuart Canterbury does present a critique of the media, but it is so mild and underdeveloped that the viewer is aware that he's merely presenting an excuse to showcase sex footage.

Central character is Martino's wife Sally (played by relatively obscure porn leading lady Candy Hill, no beauty but an okay performer. Premise is that Martino knows he's the subject of a popuar reality-tv series but his wife doesn't know it. That sounds intereting, but Canterbury's script sloughs it off, as early in the film Tony, caught cheating with Candy's best friend Shay Sweet (who gets top billing) quickly admits he's guilty but explains that it's because the show's producers wanted to play up that infidelity angle to please the audience, thereby confessing that they're being photographed and broadcast on TV. Script logic is absent, as it makes no sense that Candy hasn't seen the popular show starring her and her co-workers and other friends haven't spoken to her about it.

High point of the script is that showrunners Nick East and Raquel Devine actively manipulate the cast's actions (true of so many so-called reality tv programs) and react in real time to developments that threaten the show's arc. This is food for thought, but Canterbury fails to make it believable.

To pad the video, there's a sex scene of a couple at home reacting to the show by being turned on and having sex on their couch. They're played by Euro porn players Lidia and Rich, both speaking in extremely thick accents -way out of place in the video unless the point was being made about the reality show being popular overseas.