King Cobra (2016)

Truly Dreadful Film

It is not only a funny movie, but it allows a great amount of joy for anyone who watches it.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The real life murder of Cobra Video owner Bryan Kocis has all the ingredients for a promising movie: sex, greed, betrayal, lonely/sad people, users/abusers, and, of course, homicide, all revolving around a central character who is as manipulative as he is physically alluring-- an homme fatale, as it were. Unfortunately, though it comes close a few times to fulfilling that promise, "King Cobra" ultimately fails to do so.At the heart of the story is Sean Paul Lockhart (Garrett Clayton), who, after telling his mother he's going to a film making workshop, leaves his home in San Diego to go make a solo video for Cobra under the name Brent Corrigan. Cobra's owner (Christian Slater), re-named Stephen in the movie, is obviously smitten but grudgingly respects Brent's wishes to sleep in the sparsely furnished guest room rather than join the pornographer in his big, luxurious bed. The Internet is quickly smitten by Cobra's very young discovery, too. Realizing he's got a potential gold mine, Stephen offers Brent more money to make hardcore videos, and a star is born.Among Brent's growing fan base are L.A. rent boy Harlow (Keegan Allen) and his domineering boyfriend/pimp Joe (James Franco). Inspired by Corrigan's success, Joe starts producing videos starring Harlow. The move makes them enough money for Joe to put the down payment on a coveted Dodge Viper (their video company is even called Viper Boyz) for his star, but not the kind of cash they want or, as it's later revealed, need. What would really put them on the map--making them millions!-- is a video featuring Harlow and Brent Corrigan. Fortunately for them, Corrigan is just as greedy, and after an acrimonious split from Cobra Video, gay porn's latest "It" boy is soon spinning into Harlow and Joe's orbit. But it's Harlow and Joe who spin out of control."King Cobra" has several effective moments, most belonging to Slater and Allen. As the owner of Cobra Video, Slater's Stephen is is more sad than sleazy. He reveals that he turned to making gay porn after living so many years in the closet, and yet he still hasn't come out to his family. (His sister--played by an unnecessarily cast Molly Ringwald--still tries to set him up with women.) When Stephen finally badgers Brent into having sex with him he's in heaven, but is clearly heartbroken when Brent rebuffs his attempts to cuddle afterwards. Allen's eager-to-please Harlow is equally sad, his relationship with Joe--not to mention his involvement in the sex trade--only deepening the psychic wounds caused by child sexual abuse, not healing them.And then there's James Franco. That Franco is in this movie is not much of a surprise: Franco worked with director Justin Kelly before ("I Am Michael"), and "King Cobra" caters to Franco's dual fascinations with homosexuality and pornography. (It's only a matter of time before Franco just gives in to temptation and asks the Falcon Studio Group to put him in one of its videos.) Unfortunately for Kelly, he didn't get Oscar Nominated James Franco. Instead, he got Slumming Soap Opera Guest Star James Franco. Whatever potential "King Cobra" had at being taken seriously is dashed the moment Franco's on screen, the actor apparently thinking Kelly was making a porn parody. To be fair, it's not always clear whether Kelly was trying to make a gay(er)-themed equivalent of "Foxcatcher" or a satire a la "To Die For," but Franco's over-the-top performance is completely wrong in either case.After Brent reveals he made a few of his early videos before his 18th birthday, a porn producer for a bigger company tells the performer to lay low for a while, mentioning that Traci Lords was able to bounce back from a similar scandal. The Lords reference is fitting for Brent. Like Lords, Brent Corrigan can be a divisive figure in the porn world, viewed as either a kid who persevered despite unfortunate circumstances or a scheming little b--ch. As played by Clayton (much cuter than the real Corrigan, IMO), he's a little bit of both, but mostly he's a quick learner who's not quite as clever as he thinks he is, just lucky.Likewise, "King Cobra" is not as clever as it thinks it is, but it's not as lucky. Like a lot of movies set in the world of porn ("Rated X," "Lovelace"), it shows some skin but it doesn't have enough meat to satisfy its lurid story. Franco, however, provides plenty of ham.

First, Christian Slater seems to be the death of any film he makes. I'd avoid signing him on if you want a hit.Second, is Franco using film to work out some kind of gay aversion therapy? His films are all eerily about the sleeze factor in gay life--porno, murder, closet cases, mafia run bars and film companies! One could say it is almost a parody of the Hollywood industry--star/would be streetwalker sleeps way to top and then wants respect, fame and riches! All the characters in Franco films (barring the dominatrix/producer in 'Kink' who was wonderful) are snide, lifeless, limp personas, one dimensional, ultimately boring and superficial paper dolls. Nobody has an ounce of humanity. If you identify with any of them you'd better find a shrink and support group very fast! In order to even view the whole thing you have to fast forward through some scenes. With a tweak here and there, Franco's films could all be converted into great cult Zombie flicks! He must have money to burn! I'd get another hobby like collecting old magazines if I were him or making antique Revell models. Poor man--to be so obsessed by his own torturous soul's longings that he can only describe his yearnings in bizarre films! Almost all the Hispanic or Mediterranean macho cultures (with heavy doses of familia and the ole Mama) are bedeviled and doomed by their histories which they can never seem to break. It's sad. I stopped dating those types long ago for that reason--they never ever embrace or come to terms with being gay and they try to drag everyone around them down with them just like addicts! Get a good book on Kindle and read or get Netflix and watch ONLY foreign films!! American films are passe. Hollywood is passe, American celebs are passe and even clownish, award shows are things to open a vein to and if you're desperate for self torture watch the Today show, the evening news or follow any politician around! Leave healthy and sane gay people alone!

I have to say that this movie was much better than I expected it to be. I suppose I went to see if Garrett Clayton could pull off (no pun intended) playing Brent Corrigan and I felt that he really nailed it (no pun intended). I actually would have been satisfied just to see him in the flesh, as Steven (Christian Slater) remarks at the beginning (was there a pun intended?) and I would have been disappointed if there wasn't enough of his fabulous self on display. In this respect I suspect that many the targeted audience share my hopeful expectations and I would assure them that I wasn't disappointed, though obviously this was a film about porn films and not actually a porn film. However I was pleasantly surprised that I found the movie generally entertaining and that the people I saw it with...... really I should say gay men I saw it with.... found that there was plenty to discuss after we saw it. I have no idea how accurate it was and I know nothing about the director, couldn't care less about Franco's sexuality. Reviewers here have complained that it wasn't sordid enough but I think one could assume that at least two of the totally unhinged characters were 'perhaps' using controlled substances so I'm not sure we needed to actually see them ingested. The two characters I refer to were very nearly played for laughs, until the very, very real violence that, considering that this was based on a true story, did not come as a complete surprise. And then the cheesy faux Schubert that accompanied their denouement sort of put a black comic cherry on top. Others have complained that it doesn't portray the full spectrum of gay life. Well.....duh?I have just seen eight films at NewFest (The LGBTQ film festival here in NYC) and I wouldn't rank this at the top of them, but then again I wouldn't rank it at the bottom either. And last week I saw "Moonlight" and , though I expect I will be dodging pitchforks for saying this, I don't think it was all that much better than King Cobra.For those of you expecting thrilling action I should warn that this story played more like "In Cold Blood" than "Boogie Nights". I was surprised that the story wasn't sensationalized more, though perhaps it was and I'm just too jaded to see it. It certainly wasn't a movie to take your mother to, however. Finally, I want to say that, although the entire cast did an excellent job, Clayton really stole the show.... and it was a lot of fun hearing him shout out the last line!

I saw the preview for this movie and thought it might be worth watching since it was based upon a true story.Be warned: the trailer basically gives you the entire movie plot. There is really nothing else learned other than whodunit.Let's talk about the nudity aspect, which seems to have gotten a lot of attention.Most basic cable channels show a lot of male nudity and it so commonplace now that it is no longer shocking. Of course we could factor in foreign films but that wouldn't be fair as male nudity in many other countries isn't viewed with such prudishness. I'll never understand why women can be completely naked and then it is a big deal to show a man naked, but I digress.For this movie there is no full frontal male nudity, as if to state that the movie makers valued substance over gratuitous nudity. They didn't but never the less, a movie about gay porn has most men running around in their underwear.To me, that isn't a big deal as I was hoping for fully really characters. But there again, I was disappointed. The characters were never fully fleshed out and from what the real Brent Corrigan stated, there is a key person who wasn't even written into the script. The real Brent Corrigan was invited to join the movie and didn't - not even agreeing to the use of his name and finally leasing it to the movie makers.Then there is the issue of the vibrant colors you see in the posters. That is not a representation of the actual movie. This movie appears to have been filmed in a couple of suburban homes with very basic lighting.Overall, there is an indication that this movie was critically praised yet after actually viewing it - there was nothing new learned and it was so sanitized that you would think it was a Lifetime movie.In conclusion, James Franco - if you think anyone believes you are actually straight, keep trying because no one believes it. And that doesn't mean you are a good representation of the LGBTQ community because you aren't.