Mr. Beaver Checks In #4

In comedy, you can only head straight for the joke for so long before the jokes start to fall flat. A good comedy is based on situation and character where the jokes seem natural. Frank Thring has done a very good job at bringing laughs into porn by his invention of Mr. Beaver. Even if it's sophomoric and elicits as many groans as it does moans, at least he's consistent with his creation and seems to take everything about as seriously as he should - which is to say not at all.

Mr. Beaver is a complete and utter fool who would be far more successful in his generic business if he didn't spend so much time trying to chase down his next sexual thrill, either by trying to get into a girl's pants or watch while others get it on. But in Mr. Beaver's world, the next sexy-young-thing is right around the corner or right under his nose, and it's understandable that he could get so distracted.

This video starts in London where Mr. Beaver (played by director/writer Thring) is on stopover and decides to kill time not by watching TV but by heading to the hotel gym to search for a fresh, toned young lady. Lucky him, he happens to find a sexy young thing who taunts him by tying him to a stair-climber before screwing her young jock boyfriend. After he can't take it any longer, Beaver lucks out and is allowed to join the two. In the end, the two men pop on this model's face, and let's just say that workout or not, Mr. Beaver proves that he must take his vitamins or have some secret over the twentysomething stud.

Mr. Beaver then follows a tall blonde and her boyfriend back to a hotel in Vancouver for their very intimate romp. A nice scene here since it flows with interjections of hot sex and some genuine-sounding exchanges of loving dialogue between the two.

In Los Angeles, Mr. Beaver hires out a pair of exotic dancers for in-room entertainment. The nicely-contrasting blonde and Asian ecdysiasts put on a show for the pathetic schlub and handily knock him out by his drink. Once he is , the two take the fun to new level, making an afternoon out of getting each other off. Poor Mr. Beaver slumbers only inches away, completely unaware of what he missed.

In the San Fernando Valley, Mr. Beaver is on his way to meet a client and brings along his translator, a gorgeous, leggy blonde with Amazonian attributes. When Mr. Beaver has to return to the hotel for a contract, the translator leaps right into a sexy coupling with the client. If this stunning woman didn't seal the deal, I don't know what would. But all is not lost though as back at the hotel, Mr. Beaver spots a couple of attractive lesbians having their way with each other and, after an initial embarrassment, is allowed to watch their fun.

One of the other good aspects of this video is location. Thring has taken his camera all over the world to showcase the ambitious lovelies in these sexy romps. From London to Vancouver to L.A., this is one video that benefits from the fresh faces in new locales as opposed to other videos which claim to be in some far-off place only to stay locked down to a hotel room with the same-old porn starlet.

Video quality is as good as can be with much handheld camerawork and a broad mix of locations and lighting. In movies like this one, there is always some suspension of disbelief not only because it is porn but also because this kind wants you to believe you are along for a secret look at "real" action. Of course, we see many multiple angles shot on different cameras or different setups and many camera-aware actors. But this is all passable when we know the video doesn't take itself seriously. The DVD offers standard features like chapter breaks, previews and still galleries. Fortunately, the DVD also offers a very entertaining behind-the-scenes video hosted by Thring as he explains the appeal of Mr. Beaver and reveals fun "making of" footage.

Frank Thring has married another kind of genre?the "nudie cutie"?to hardcore sex. When Russ Meyer was making his films in the 1950s and '60s before the relaxed standards of today, the tease of sex always happened to the least likely fellow. The women were hypersexual charicatures and were expressing their sexuality in the most inappropriate places. Thring captures the innocence, comedy and power of sex all through the eyes of Mr. Beaver, and he makes this series one of Hustler's most entertaining lines. He also proves that an adult movie can be made with character, plot, environment and humor all of which serve to make the final product more entertaining but never detract from the heat on the screen.