Welcome To The Valley 1

To paraphrase Dick Smothers Jr., Nectar is a young company with couples in mind for the target audience. This appears to be the case, at least with regard to Welcome to the Valley. It is indeed filled with light fun and intentional silliness, with nothing too outlandish or hard-edged. Not without some critical flaws, it's still a pretty good choice for new adult viewers, couples and audiences who desire a peak into the behind-the-scenes activity of adult filmmaking.

Part real and part scripted, Valley is a film that eagerly jumps on the reality-television bandwagon. Crazy as it is, this concept still garners high ratings on the mainstream beat. Reality's distant porn cousin is gonzo, and it of course does extremely well also. Welcome to the Valley isn't gonzo though, not in terms we're accustomed to. Again, this is designed almost identically to many of the programs we are bombarded with virtually every evening on the tube. Interviews and commentary are interjected between scenes of real-life drama that unfolds before the camera's eye.

Billy Tyler is a simple guy with a mundane life. With sarcasm and self-deprecation, he gives the dreary details; age 27, lives at home with parents, works as delivery boy. His room is filled with sexual publications and devices (the love doll scenario is particularly amusing). He needs to move on... a job ad posted by Nectar just might be his ticket to independence and self-worth.

Billy meets Sean Logan (Smothers Jr.), a big wig at Nectar. First off, the job is for a production assistant position, i.e. hand out towels and lube, clean up goo, etc. However, the perks aren't too bad, as he may have to "fill in" for AWOL woodsman. Logan's requirements beyond that... no fans of classic rock! Nectar is, again, an up and coming company for progressive types.

Billy takes the position and goes through the ringer, at first, moving objects, running errands and being the brunt of crewmember's "lazy" jokes. As one could expect though, he does get some action both on and off the porn set.

Welcome to the Valley flows with surprising ease. Truly, this movie behaves very much like a mainstream reality show. However, and very important to note again, this film isn't really a reality show. It's more of a spoof... that happens to give a lot of genuine glimpses into the world of porn - from behind the camera. The acting is intentionally and successfully humorous, Smothers Jr. especially even though he is only seen a handful of times throughout. Just remember, contrary to what the box blurbs would have us believe, this is acting - it's scripted.

About that box cover, and to detail some of the less stellar elements of Welcome to the Valley, let's move on to the flaws. Purely on an aesthetic level (and this reviewer is admittedly very steadfast on "artistic values"), the cover art/photography is very drab, doing no justice to the lovely ladies featured. In short, there's nothing outstanding or eye-catching about it. Then there's the captions and blurbs. Contrary to the listing, Dick Smothers Jr. does not play himself, nor is he the "host" of the show. Billy Tyler definitely speaks about the film's events far more than Dick, but there really isn't a host per se. Back to the "reality" issue, the synopsis, as written on the cover, isn't accurate either. This is not a pure real-life experience - there's a script and actors portraying characters.

The sex? That's the odd thing about this film. There isn't a lot of sexual activity, at least not lengthy or intense enough to characterize it as full blown sex scenes. Disappointingly, some of the most beautiful women in the film are only seen briefly on-set or only as passing thoughts. The action that does fully commence is acceptable, but not exactly scorching eye candy. The potential was certainly there, considering the combinations of comedy, style and acting were obvious, but a sex flick just isn't a true success without...well... the sex part!

For what banging action there is, one can expect to see several girl/girl couplings, a few blowjobs and pussy licking moments, and then some limited standard fucking scenes. Billy performs in two scenes, the rest are carried out by "lesser known" porn performers. But on a positive swing, the fact that most of the cast members are not readily recognizable lends itself to a more realistic experience overall - keeping in mind the concept of the whole project.

Welcome the to Valley, flaws and all, still deserves a decent grade. If for nothing more than the sheer care and creativity that went into the concept. Hey, it may be a fake reality experience, but the cast and director did one helluva job carrying it out. Perhaps as a first-time adult video for newcomers to adult entertainment is the best suiting. Doubts loom highly that this movie will satisfy any solo viewers or hardcore-hungry couples. Furthermore, DVD goodies junkies will find this disc to have one of the most limited and unexciting design and options list, and the sound and video qualities are only average. So, consider this film best taken on the merits of the main content alone.