Rated X Reviews

Borrowing artlessly from Boogie Nights, Emilio Estevez's fact-mangling odyssey through the sleazy showbiz excesses of the seventies has all the class and conviction of a teleplay. Yet, there's a ghoulish fascination in watching him and brother Charlie Sheen portray Jim and Artie Mitchell, the feuding, drug-addled siblings who transformed the American porn industry with their “sophisticated” soft core. Chronicling their beginnings at San Francisco's O'Farrell Theater, through the triumph of the Marilyn Chambers vehicle, Behind the Green Door, to Artie's loveless, paranoic end, this untidy film leaves you hoping the story will eventually be revisited by a steadier hand.

Borrowing artlessly from Boogie Nights, Emilio Estevez's fact-mangling odyssey through the sleazy showbiz excesses of the seventies has all the class and conviction of a teleplay. Yet, there's a ghoulish fascination in watching him and brother Charlie Sheen portray Jim and Artie Mitchell, the feuding, drug-addled siblings who transformed the American porn industry with their “sophisticated” soft core. Chronicling their beginnings at San Francisco's O'Farrell Theater, through the triumph of the Marilyn Chambers vehicle, Behind the Green Door, to Artie's loveless, paranoic end, this untidy film leaves you hoping the story will eventually be revisited by a steadier hand.