Raw: The Rise and Fall of a Porn Star Review

Running Time: 138 min.

Production Date: 9 / 1999

Director: Antonio Passolini

Cast: Kylie Ireland, Joel Lawrence, Anita Cannibal, Keisha (Dominguez), Jessica Jewel, Donita Dunes, Syren, Midori, Violet Love, Herschel Savage, Lance Romance, Michael J. Cox, Steve Hatcher, Kyle Stone, Tyce Bune, Ian Daniels, Nicholas Ireland, Ernest Key, Fred Daniels, and Stacy Valentine

Initial Expectations: Kylie’s one of my favorite actresses and Mr. Passolini is one of my favorite directors. How could I not have high expectations for this DVD?

Initial Reaction: Wow. This is one of the best adult films I’ve seen. The script is great, the acting fantastic, and the sex nasty and amazing.

Audio /Video Quality: Both are great. There were a couple small flaws, but the movie has

Music: They music is a pretty good mix of styles and is balanced very well. I didn’t notice a single spot where I thought it overpowered the action.

Review: I guess you could call a satire of the porn industry. The only problem is that most people don’t get satire, and in Raw most everybody is getting it. Raw is the story a Jerry (Joel Lawrence), a normal guy with a huge schlong who accidently ends up becoming a porn star. It’s almost like Cinderella, but for guys. Thankfully there’s no mice or little songs, but instead there’s gorgeous porn stars and lots of really good, really hot sex. And no, it does not end up with the princess trying to find out who’s cock will fit in her ‘velvet slipper’. Rather than the wicked stepmother, there’s Margaret (Kylie Ireland), Jerry’s fiancé who thinks that nothing should stand in the way of her perfect wedding. Not money, not reality, and not real boobs (although Kylie’s are some of the nicest fake boobs out there). Of course other changes must be made also. A fairy godmother, or godfather (even if it is Marlon Brando, or for porn, Ron Jeremy) isn’t going to cut it. Instead we have Victor Ventura (Herschel Savage), the agent who opens the new world wide open for Jerry and is very heterosexual.

Raw follows Jerry as her makes his way into porn completely by accident after failing miserably at a tryout for Extremino in a commercial. I knew I was going to really like Raw by the end of this scene. Joel is hilarious in his tryout. More so, he can act and act well. He does as good of a job as a straight actor as Randy Spears does playing a goofball in Double Feature! . I read somewhere that he’s taking some acting lessons. Assuming that his lessons are after this performance, there’s a lot of great stuff that’s going to be coming from Joel (no pun intended).

Jerry’s first scene is on a porn set with Jessica Jewel as part of a gang bang. Jessica plays a maid in the porno they’re shooting and the director decides the scene should be a gang bang. I’ve only seen a couple scenes with Jessica, and she didn’t impress me too much before. Maybe she just needed the inspirational effect of five cocks going after her, since she does a great job here. She trash talks up a storm too, which really adds heat to this already hot scene.

Jerry thinks this is a one time deal and doesn’t want to do it again, as he’s an actor not a porn star, and doesn’t tell Margaret about the job. Every man’s dream at some point in their life, and Joel convincingly acts like he doesn’t want it. Now that’s acting! He also gets easy things to do, like making it look convincing that he’s enjoying pumping away on Kylie’s magnificent pussy.

Although Jerry doesn’t think he’s cut out for porn, Victor does. He even thinks Jerry is important enough to put on hold while he gets a blowjob from an auditioning Candy (Midori). The music really stands out in this scene. The same music in the background of the sex is heard on the phone as Jerry waits on hold. Attention to details like this is why I think Antonio Passolini is the best director out there.

Victor convinces a reluctant Jerry to come by the set and they’ll work some things out. What better way to convince a guy than to let him watch a scene. Luckily, Pierre Petard (Fred Daniels) is shooting a hospital scene. Nurses Gazonga (Donita Dunes) and Pepita (Keisha) give patient Lance Romance a little physical therapy. Doctor Cheeselog (Tyce Bune’) also joins in. There’s a lot of lube in this scene, which I think is to keep with the ‘Do no harm’ part of the Hippocratic oath. Donita seems to have done quite a bit of research into hospitals for her part. First, she tested out the limits of breast augmentations. Second, I think she had to have some parts of her body reinforced so that she can stand up. Third, she checked out as many needles as possible to have her tattoos and piercings done. She could have been attractive, but instead ended up looking extremely trashy.

Jerry is given the name Buddy Brando after his prison scene with Syren due to his need to understand his character’s motivation (you’ve got a fat ugly wife at home and this girl is hot and she wants you to fuck her). Jerry starts to skyrocket to the top of the porn world, and women find something they like in porn. Violet Love even masturbates while fantasizing about him watching his movies. This was one of the best solo scenes I’ve seen lately. Violet is really hot in the scene and works herself over really good. Anita’s solo scene is cut together with Jerry’s ego inflating faster than many female pornstar’s chests.

Despite becoming a huge star, Jerry still can’t tell Margaret about his job. She’s too busy spending money on the wedding and Jerry couldn’t care less about it. He heads to the couch and dreams of their wedding. Well, kind of their wedding. Kylie pushes him away so she can take Steve Hatcher, Kyle Stone, and Michael J. Cox in a gang bang while she still has most of her wedding ‘dress’ on. This scene is also really hot, but got really long for me. The guys take turns on her and rotate around about nine times total. That’s twenty seven insertions, most of which are anal.

Margaret isn’t the only one who starts hating Jerry, as hardly anybody wants to work with him anymore. Trixie has found him, though, and he’d rather do her with the help of a bottle of vodka in the dressing room than do his job or talk to his fiance on the phone. Joel’s acting talent really shows in this scene also. He plays Jerry with a raging ego and completely out of control very well while at the same time banging away on Anita.

Of course, the Cinderella story can’t go on forever. Cinderella had stuff turn into a pumpkin when both hands pointed to the stars. Jerry turned into a major jerk when both legs pointed to the stars, and Margaret found out that he’s a porn star. She quit stripping for him, and is not happy with his new job or his not telling her. This is one of the best non-sex scenes I’ve seen in an adult film. There’s some interesting things in the commentary about it, so make sure to listen to it.

Realizing that he isn’t even going to be allowed on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride anymore, Jerry heads off to figure things out. Victor feels sorry for him and gives him a pass back into the Magic Kingdom, only to find that everybody really hated him and Margaret is now starting to take his place. Refusing to work with her, he leaves only to be replaced by Steve Hatcher in a great final sex scene. Kylie and Steve have great chemistry during this scene and Kylie really works her character well around the scene. Jerry stays around the business a little, but not in the way he planned on. It’s a great, although tragic ending to the story.

Raw borders on being a great couples film. The plot is great and is pretty strong. The acting is some of the best I’ve seen in an adult film. The only thing I can see holding it back is some of the sex scenes. There’s a lot of anal sex, which I normally don’t think of as couples friendly. There’s also a lot of group scenes. If you’re looking for a couples movie, you might want to consider Raw , but watch a few others first if you’re looking for something to easy a squeamish significant other into porn. If anal and group scenes don’t bother you, buy this now!

Extras: As always, VCA includes a photo gallery, trailers, and bios. The photo gallery is automated lasting about two and a quarter minutes with about six seconds per still. The picture quality is better than average. The only trailer is for DMJ 6 . If you haven’t watched DMJ 6 yet, don’t watch this trailer. It ruins things. Instead, buy the movie and watch it in its entirety. Kylie, Keisha, Anita, and Midori all have audio bios including a link to one of their scenes.

The commentary is by D3, the production director, and Kylie Ireland. It’s a great commentary. They both give a lot of behind the scenes info such as lighting things (which actually was really interesting) and some of what goes on between the stars behind the scenes. They also talk some about the other DVD features. It’s a very good commentary and adds quite a bit to the movie.

The behind the scenes featurette lasts almost six minutes and covers the wedding group scene. The picture quality is very good and I was really disappointed that it only covered one scene. It’s pretty much narrated by Kylie, but there’s a short bit with Joel also. It’s not too bad, but it doesn’t add a whole lot either.

Kylie’s Strip Show easter egg is hidden in the menus. That’s all I’m going to tell you about the location, since there is a clue or two in the menus telling you where to look. I was really anticipating this, and ended up disappointed. As I’ve said many times, Kylie’s one of my personal favorites and I really wanted to see her strip act, which is done in her wedding costume. There’s a little effort put into it by VCA, as you can have two different points of view for the scene. With one angle you can watch from the back of the club and the other puts you right in sniffer’s row. Unfortunately, the picture is very grainy. The club did look like it was fairly dark, so I guess this is to be kind of expected. The strip show I also thought was disappointing. The dance was really cut up bad by the editing and Kylie seemed more concerned with throwing out some of her merchandise than doing her dance. If you’re a fan of Kylie you’re going to want to see this scene, but don’t put too much effort or too high of hopes into it.

Kylie also does a ‘private screening’. You have the option of watching this alone or as a picture - in - picture with the final scene. The screening has Kylie masturbating and is much better than I expected. Kylie does a great job here and I can’t wait to see the virtual sex DVD that she’s supposed to be doing. Don’t pass this extra up.

Themes: Straight, lesbian, group, anal, toys, DP, gang bang, toe-ing, tit fucking, spanking, rimming (male > female), shoe / foot worship, trash talking, and fetish wear

Raincoat Factor: Very high

Overall: Currently, Raw can be found online for between $21 and $25 with many retailers offering it for under $22. Unless you really don’t like group or anal sex, BUY THIS DVD! It’s a great movie with great extras and I think it’s good for many repeat viewings.

Note to VCA: It’s great to see you giving Antonio Passolini’s movies the treatment they deserve. I wish all DVDs were as good as Raw is.

If you have any questions or comments, please e- mail me .