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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy (2001)

Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy (2001)

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Released 21-Nov-2002

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Documentary Menu Audio
Theatrical Trailer
Trailer-Backyard Wrestling
Featurette-Ron On E!
Featurette-Ron On The View
Featurette-Ron On The Weakest Link
Featurette-Ron On Nightline
Filmographies-Cast
Gallery-Photo
Rating Rated R
Year Of Production 2001
Running Time 76:37
RSDL / Flipper No/No Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 1,2,3,4,5,6 Directed By Scott J. Gill
Studio
Distributor

Stomp Visual
Starring Ron Jeremy
Case C-Button-Version 2
RPI ? Music Carvin Knowles


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame Full Frame English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio None
16x9 Enhancement No
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles None Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    Porn Star is a fun documentary about the legend of Ron Jeremy - “the Story of America's Most Unlikely Sex Star”.

     With over twenty years in the adult film industry, Ron Jeremy has built up an army of devoted fans, some of who appear in this documentary. Born Ron Hyatt in 1953 in New York, Jeremy landed in adult films after a failed acting career. It is no secret that the popularity of Jeremy stems from the fact that his audience can easily relate to him. However, while the overweight, short, hairy slob has been nicknamed “the hedgehog”, he was blessed with a 10” appendage, and incredible staying power (Jeremy is considered to be the leading “woodsman” in his line of work) which allowed him to become one of the few male Porn Stars. Many fans consider the Hedgehog to be the luckiest man in the world, as he has become very wealthy by appearing in over 1800 adult movies with over 3000 (mostly) gorgeous female co-stars.

     This documentary was written and directed by Scott J. Gill, and is composed mainly of interviews with Jeremy and other Adult Film stars, such as Seymore Butts and Tabitha Stevens. The documentary gives us a peek behind the scenes, and a look at the life of a Porn Star. Purposefully not glamorised, Jeremy’s life appears rather lonely. The "clown prince of porn" often seems like an overgrown child, craving fame, attention, and affection. Jeremy appears to be very unsatisfied with his career, as he pines for mainstream acting success. In that regard, Jeremy has made fleeting appearances, often as an extra, in a number of mainstream movies such as Killing Zoe and Reindeer Games.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    The transfer is grainy and of variable quality, as a variety of source material is used, ranging from home movies to cheap shot-on-video porn.

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, full frame.

    The transfer has the sharpness of a good VHS tape, and the shadow detail is often poor, for example at 6:15.

    The colour of the non-archive footage is fine, and the skin-tones are accurate.

    There are no obvious problems with MPEG artefacts.

    Film-to-video artefacts appear in the form of aliasing, such as the slight shimmer on the car window at 28:01. While telecine wobble is not a problem, there is a lot of shaky camera work. Film artefacts appear throughout the archive footage, but not during the new passages.

    There are no subtitles present on this single sided and single layered DVD.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The quality of the audio is also variable, with many poor mono sources. Sometimes the clarity of the audio is awful, such as during the Kid Rock concert at 58:16.

    The only audio option is English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo.

    The dialogue quality and audio sync are fine.

    The musical score is credited to Carvin Knowles, and it is porn-influenced, with plenty of bass and 70s twangy guitar.

    There is no surround presence nor subwoofer activity.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

    There are a few extras.

Menu

    A very simple menu, presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1.

Theatrical Trailers

    Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, with Dolby Digital stereo audio, the trailers for Porn Star and Best Of Backyard Wrestling are included.

Ron's TV Spots (3:18)

    Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, with Dolby Digital stereo audio, these are a short collection of Ron's appearances on US television.

Ron's Filmography and Pornography

    Text-based extras.

Photo Gallery

    A series of photographic stills.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    Porn Star is to be released on DVD in Region 1 in March 2003; as yet the details of the R1 DVD have not been advised.

Summary

    Porn Star is a reasonably light documentary that does little more than scratch the surface of the porn industry by spending a few days with one of its stars.

    The video quality is disappointing but acceptable for a documentary.

    The audio quality is limited, but again acceptable for a documentary.

    The extras are not really worth mentioning.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Brandon Robert Vogt (warning: bio hazard)
Sunday, December 22, 2002
Review Equipment
DVDPioneer DV-535, using S-Video output
DisplayGrundig Elegance 82-2101 (82cm, 16x9). Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
AmplificationSony STR DE-545
SpeakersSony SS-V315 x5; Sony SA-WMS315 subwoofer

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