Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy

Anyone who fantasizes about becoming a porn star should see Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy, a cheerful documentary that paints a sympathetic but clear-eyed portrait of the most successful male porn star of all time. Through remarkably frank interviews with the man himself and a variety of friends and associates (including actresses, rival actors, and directors; porn moguls like Larry Flynt and Al Goldstein; and, most surprisingly, Jeremy's own family), Ron Jeremy emerges as a likeable but self-obsessed guy whose insatiable drive for fame and success is also a struggle to overcome loneliness and a lack of self-worth. Not that anyone's going to feel too sorry for a man who gets paid to have sex, but Jeremy's honesty and sense of humor deserve some respect. And despite all the flesh on display, Porn Star is more matter-of-fact than titillating, taking in its subject with a sociological distance. --Bret Fetzer