artemis84-1 'The Fluffer' (2001) intertwines the lives of three very different characters: Mikey (Scott Gurney), Julie (Roxanne Day) and Sean (Michael Cunio). Mikey (a.k.a. Johnny Rebel) is a star in the gay porn industry, yet claims to be heterosexual. He is in a romantic relationship with Julie, an erotic dancer who wants to get her life straight while struggling with Mikey's infidelity, drug addiction and lack of responsibility. Sean, a self-proclaimed bisexual, is in total awe of Mikey and decides to join the porn industry because of him. He starts out as a cameraman yet soon finds himself as Mikey's personal fluffer, meaning he 'helps out' when the pornstar cannot get an erection.What makes this movie interesting is the dynamics between these three characters, as all of them are shadowed by some form of personal tragedy. Perhaps the most obvious one is Mikey. He has a physique enviable even by Greek gods, and also has a gorgeous girlfriend with whom they truly love each other. However, he is not only unable to stay sober or loyal, he is living an outrageous lie. He finds success in acting as a gay pornstar yet openly yearns after females. He is infatuated with people being infatuated with him, no matter what their gender may be. For him having sex with men is just a job like any other. He is well aware of his bodily gifts and takes advantage of it to manipulate his environment. However, to me he did not seem entirely as a negative character. I found his fate truly sad, since he could have so easily had it all; the family, a change in life, and yet he chose to throw it all away. I could not dislike him, because to me he seemed like an eternally lonely person who got lost in a world where he is viewed as a piece of meat.Sean is a smarter character. He is well aware of just how impossible it is to fulfill his desire to be with Mikey. He is quite literally on his knees before his idol, and lets Mikey take full advantage of him. Sean's tragedy is his inability to break free from the spell Mikey's beauty has cast upon him. He knows he is being used, yet does not do a thing against it. He lives for those occasional moments when he matters to his object of desire, which sadly enough has nothing to do with Sean. He only matters to Mikey when Mikey needs something; an erection, money or a getaway. This relationship is perfectly visualized in Sean's dream when he is watching Mikey from behind the mirror and in reality Mikey is kissing his own image when Sean leans in. Sean is nothing more than a fluffer, temporarily satisfying the ego of his idol.Julie is a girl who also works on the surface of the sex industry, though is not as consumed by it as Mikey. She simply is fed up by Mikey's inability to be there for her, and it takes an abortion for her to literally lock him out of her life and move on, possibly towards a brighter future. She finally understands that it is not enough to have a sex god as a boyfriend. Her tragedy is the loss of her unborn child, and the loss of the man she loves… However the latter bit is not necessarily a negative issue in the long term. She is a sympathetic character who finally is strong enough to break the devil's cycle.Directors Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland did a good job at portraying how the fates of these three characters first meet, then part. While Julie and Sean both find a painful but efficient way to drag themselves out of their constant source of unhappiness, Mikey's future looks the most bleak. He is clearly not heading towards any positive change, he is merely continuing the wrong path he decided to initially take.Overall the movie was certainly unusual and had no lack in some explicit sex scenes. Though I will not count this among my favorites, it did a great job at showing the terrible consequences of denial and lies, as well as how easily the sex industry can lead to drug addiction and burnouts. The most memorable line for me was when Sam, the main cameraman says to Sean: "We're not talking about sex here, this is pornography." That says it all. Sex and pornography do not go hand in hand, just as well as adoration and appreciation (or love and happiness if you will) are not reciprocals of one another either. It paints a crude, raw picture of one form of reality.

Nick Dets After Paul Thomas Anderson's "Boogie Nights", the porn industry has been explored in a few interesting ways. Last year's "Wonderland" showed the downfall of porn legend John Holmes, a study of how desperate he became after realizing he hasn't been seen for anything but his "manhood". I recently saw "The Fluffer" which is detached to its subject, and simply shows how the characters are affected by their work."The Fluffer" is a film that unflinchingly shows the work of a small gay porn studio. I questioned its taste in some points, but I did in "Boogie Nights" also. I liked how it realistically shows how sex outweighing love leads to insanity in some form or another, but it is extremely hard to watch in spots.Wash Westmoreland's story follows a pure young man named Sean who lets himself be degraded and used in his work as a cameraman in the studio. He falls for the studio's biggest star, Johnny Rebel. Rebel is straight, or so they say, but Sean can't help but love him. I found this point interesting, how Rebel (and I'm sure many straight porno stars) reduces himself to the homosexual market for more money. Anyway, Sean lets himself be dehumanized by Rebel and soon the industry sends all their lives in the wrong direction.As a whole, "The Fluffer" doesn't fully succeed. Its messages are all told in familiar ways, (note the use of American flags to show the faded American dream for example) and the ending isn't fully convincing. However, it is a film that never stops entertaining and is definitely one of the very bravest depictions of the porn industry I've ever seen. (2 and 1/2 out of 4)

WraithX I am surprised at how many people have given 'The Fluffer' a poor rating. I found the film to be very entertaining. The acting was excellent, the writing was excellent, and the sexual tension is incredibly well portrayed. I would say it is not as good as My Own Private Idaho, but it was certainly up there with it in quality. The main character, Sean McGinnis (played by Michael Cunio) was very believable and I would like to see him in more films. The porn star was played very well by Scott Gurney who has since gone on to become the host of a reality TV program (what a shame).This is a definite surprise film – I expected b-grade and definitely got a-grade.See it; you will not regret it.

tim_yellow I just recently saw "the Fluffer" this weekend. I'd read many positive reviews of the film but came to gather a different feeling from watching it. Most movies with the words "coming of age story" on the back are usually hints that the lead character will go through many situations and we'll see them develope into their "new self" by the end. However, by the end of this movie i didn't feel like i knew anything more about the main character Sean. The movie starts off well, as we see Sean become more and more obsessed with gay-for-pay porn star Johnny Rebel, but somewhere in the near middle it begins to spiral into too many directions. I had a hard time figuring out who was the main character after a while, Johnny or Sean?Writer Wash West(moreland), better known for adult titles, begins to lose track also. It's not a bad debut for an adult writer and those of us who have been through the same situation as Sean will see a good portrayal of how it feels to love someone who doesn't love you back. The main problem is that Sean is as ambiguous of a character as Rebel, and it soon seems that his whole problem is in him and not his situation with Johnny. If this film was about that, it would be great...but it's not. The character depth and film direction is lacking, just as how commonly it lacks in adult films,which is a kind of an ironic trait to the film.Bottom line: performances are very good, the movie is entertaining but the writing lacks some direction. If it were an actual adult film, it would be the most dramatic one i've ever seen.