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EW review: 'Inside Deep Throat'

By Dalton Ross
Entertainment Weekly

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(Entertainment Weekly) -- "'Deep Throat' was less about the joys of oral sex than it was about the freedom to speak out against shame and hypocrisy," says narrator Dennis Hopper in "Inside Deep Throat," a graphic documentary about the notorious 1972 porn film.

Sure, shame and hypocrisy may have played a part, but come on -- the movie is called "Deep Throat," people!

"Inside" bends over backward in its attempts to color director Gerard Damiano and stars Linda Lovelace and Harry Reems as artistically uncompromising First Amendment revolutionaries. But it achieves maximum stimulation when it's chronicling how a bunch of nobodies (including nutty location scout Lenny Camp) unwittingly produced the most profitable film in history (shot in six days, it cost only $25,000 and has allegedly grossed over $600 million) and how it actually made pornography acceptable for the masses (or at least more acceptable).

We also learn where all that money really went (the Mob) and about Lovelace's roller-coaster relationship with the project that made her famous: "Every time someone watches that movie," she told the Meese Commission on Pornography in 1986, "they're watching me being raped."

The DVD includes close to an hour of additional footage, including Lovelace's unsuccessful attempts to make it in Hollywood (Linda Lovelace for President must have seemed like a good idea at the time ... to someone); a how-to deep throat tutorial from a seasoned professional (warning: It involves hypnosis); and this curious quote from the man who bought the rights to the franchise in 1996, Vietnam vet Ray Pistol: "I feel I am doing more today to help my country than I ever did in a rice paddy in Vietnam." Of course you are.

EW Grade: B+

'Fever Pitch'

Reviewed by Jeff Labrecque

"Fever Pitch," a hokey chick flick, mistakenly courts the audience least likely to be fans of either the Farrelly brothers or baseball, and the result is as watered-down as ballpark beer.

Jimmy Fallon's misguided performance (calling it "Hanksian," as Peter Farrelly does in the commentary, is a little insulting -- to Colin Hanks!) and his blasphemous intrusion on the field during the 2004 World Series celebration have earned him a level of infamy among Red Sox diehards that was once reserved for Bill Buckner.

EXTRAS To his credit, "SNL" alum Fallon finally proves he can sustain a scene without cracking up, but the gag reel reveals it wasn't easy. The gimmicky climax in St. Louis was a last-second whim, as the superstitious Farrellys hadn't planned for the possibility that their team might actually win, according to the aptly titled "Making a Scene" doc. Another featurette examines the Sox's 86-year Curse of the Bambino and the surreal experience of witnessing history: "It's like making 'Pearl Harbor' during Pearl Harbor," Bobby Farrelly said to Peter while filming. Maybe -- all's we know is, the Yankees don't fare well in either film.

EW Grade: C-

'Empire Falls'

Reviewed by Alisa Cohen

For a film that's teeming with watery images, "Empire Falls" is a tad dry. You can't fault its impeccable pedigree: the Pulitzer Prize-winning book as a foundation; its esteemed author, Richard Russo, as script man; the one-two punch of Paul Newman and Ed Harris as devilish father and angelic son.

Ultimately, though, this small-town tale of squelched opportunities and family binds buckles under the weight of all its folksy metaphors and halfhearted romantic subplots. Even the mightiest of projects can drown in self-indulgence.

EXTRAS "I thought this was going to be kind of like 'Mystery Science Theater' ... making sarcastic comments," says Russo of his commentary with director Fred Schepisi. Not even close, as the duo ramble on about authenticity and continuity. But there are some interesting blips: Russo, for instance, discloses that a crafty cat might be the reincarnation of Robin Wright Penn's character. The cast, meanwhile, is far from catty in the behind-the-scenes bonus, gushing about one another a la "Inside the Actors Studio."

EW Grade: B-


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