Movie Review: ‘LUCKY BASTARD (2014)’

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I’m always interested when someone tries to flip the script on the found footage genre. Every year we get an influx of films that don’t do anything except to saturate the market with a concept that audiences are starting to tire of. Then we get something like 2012’s Chronicle that shows that there’s life in the old girl yet. Lucky Bastard from Robert Nathan and Lukas Kendall makes for a good halfway point.

The film concerns a porn film crew consisting of producer Mike, star Ashley Saint, Cameramen Kris and Nico, and Mike’s tag-along girlfriend Casey who is also shooting a little bit of B-roll herself. Mike has an interesting porn philosophy that the fans want to see everything, so he’s trained Kris to never stop rolling, except when it’s just him eating a burger. The only scenes not filmed by Mike and his crew are at the beginning, by the LAPD investigating a multiple homicide crime scene taking place at the “porn house” that constitutes the main location of the movie.

The crew are shooting for one of Mike’s websites called Luckybastard.com, where one lucky member of the website is chosen to come to the set to bang a porn star. After finding a candidate in Dave, a shy man with a bit of a sob story, and a lot of convincing on Ashley’s part, it seems like the gang is ready to make another successful shoot for the website. And then they meet Dave…

At first he seems normal, but then he crosses the line when he mentions Ashley’s real name and kids. After more convincing and an apology, Ashley is back on board, but then things get strange. Dave gets nervous about having sex on camera and Mike tells him to whack off before the shoot to calm his nerves, but he winds up prematurely “popping” the second Ashley touches him Dave pushes her off the bed. The whole shoot is now ruined and after lot’s of fighting between the crew and the actors, the shoot is off and Mike sends Dave packing. This of course sends Dave on a murderous rampage.

The movie makes some interesting points about masculinity. The reason for Dave’s rampage is so that he can destroy the footage so nobody finds out that the wasn’t able to perform with a porn star, At times Dave repeatedly says that he’s “not a faggot” because he shot his load so quickly. There’s also a really creepy scene near the end where Dave asks a naked, bound male porn star how he’s able to perform with so many women that starts to verge into homoerotic territory. The film also works as a movie about movies. Take any movie about a troubled movie production like Living in Oblivion and just replace “movie” with “porn”. The producer is bullying egomaniac, the main talent is stuck up, the new talent is neurotic and nervous, the producer’s girlfriend wants to be more than she is, and the cameraman is the voice of reason! Another thing this movie does well is the way it kind of de-mystifies the porn industry. The people in the industry depicted here all treat it as a job and have lives of their own. Ashley and Mike frequently mention their kids and ex-spouses and this goes a long way towards showing that people in porn are people too.

The acting in the film is solid. Jay Paulson as Dave and Betsy Rue as Ashley Saint are solid, although sometimes over the top. Don McManus as Mike, however, is a real stand out. He’s never the over the top sleazy porn producer that you usually see in movies, but rather the producer who is working for next to nothing to make everything go as smoothly as possible. The main drawbacks to this movie are the special effects and the camera work. The violence is cheesy and fake looking and the cinematography is pretty dull. They explain in the film that they’re shooting in a house used for reality shows wired with hundreds of hidden cameras, so about ninety percent of the film are static shots at very awkward angles.

This movie isn’t perfect, but it is interesting and sometimes pretty funny. There’s also a lot of nudity and sex scenes given the nature of the material, so if you’re looking for a cheap thrill, you could do a lot worse than Lucky Bastard.

LUCKY BASTARD is available May 15th On Demand.