Purely Joyful Movie!

An absolute waste of money

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Forget any angst-ridden documentary! This film is really an out and out comedy about a 40-yer-old porn star whose goal in life is to sing junky circuit party songs. The only problem? Colton Ford can't sing! And the film cuts away whenever he appears to be ready to burst into song. Yet Ford and equally vapid boyfriend Blake Harper whine and primp and run around in their tank tops, determined to make dreams come true. Even funnier is "manager" Kyle who appears to have the I.Q. of a turnip and whose collagen-injected lips look like a bee stung him. How can grown men be so self-delusional? Bwa ha ha! As for the documentary, the filmmakers don't appear to have any POV and the film is poorly structured and wildly uneven. Very little background information is provided about the three leads. Such an inclusion might have made the three seem like something other than aging West Hollywood stereotypes.

If you take this movie to seriously, of course you're going to hate it. Colton Ford has no talent and the documentary is a parade of delusion, with a few moments of clarity. But that is what makes it so funny. A group of about 10 gay guys got together last night to watch it, and first of all, none of us recognized any of the so-called "porn stars" in the movie. In this day, all porn stars look like clones. Secondly, this movie is the equivalent of watching the worst auditions for "American Idol." Actually make that "The Gong Show." Except he takes his pants off in the beginning. My stomach still hurts from laughing at this movie. Worth it for that alone.

For the first fifteen minutes the story of NAKED FAME is interesting: two late thirties male porn stars in a seemingly healthy relationship decide to leave the Porn industry and try for the world of singing and acting. The two very buff and preening men are Colton Ford and Blake Harper. With the aid of Kevin Aviance and Marc Berkely, Colton makes a dance track that is then marketed in New York with the hopes that Colton Ford will become an instant star - a unique disco singer touting his background as a Porn Star for PR.The remainder of the film is grumbling and in-fighting and commentary by Porn Producer ChiChi LaRue and the film slowly sinks into repetition and doldrums. Not a bad idea for a film if there were a bit more depth revealed in each character's drive to move away form a successful career (though one greatly influenced by the youth both characters have lost) into an alternative one. It is just that a one-note song wears thin quickly. Grady Harp, November 05

This documentary about a gay porn star's quest to embark on a singing career has surprisingly more depth than I was expecting. Actually, I'm not sure what I was expecting other than a few gratuitous shots of star Colton Ford's body (check) and some insights into the "private" life of a male porn star (check). I was not expecting to have much sympathy for a forty-ish gay man, who has enjoyed fame on what has to be one of the lowest rungs of the celebrity ladder, believing he has any chance of success in the youth-obsessed, very heterosexual world of pop music. Yet Ford's naiveté, at first sad, ultimately comes across as somewhat charming as he chooses dance music as his genre. Never mind that the only "stars" in that field are black female divas, and even they only enjoy a level of fame just a notch above that of a gay male porn star. Ford would have been much better off choosing to be a rock or cabaret singer. But he soldiers on, supported by an apparently devoted partner (fellow porn star Blake Harper) and amazingly understanding parents, and despite the pale efforts of his pathetic "manager". As a documentary, "Naked Fame" won't make Errol Morris shake in his boots, but it's certainly an interesting glimpse of ordinary people trying to cope in a surreal profession.