A Rising Star

a review by Onan the Vulgarian
Best of Phoenix Alternative Video Reviewer

	Cast: Jason Ridge, Roman Heart, Matt Cole, Andrew Justice, Marcos David, Joe Strong. Directed by Dylan Ryan.
	Ridgeline Films. Online orders, www.ridgelinefilms.com.
	Click here to purchase.

The highly anticipated first title from Jason Ridge's fledgling Ridgeline Films is now available. Titled A Rising Star, it's a tale of sex and vengeance but without any dismemberment or death.
    Jason Ridge stars as one of Hollywood's top leading men, who is constantly dogged by rumors that he's gay. (He is, but he neither acknowledges not denies it.) Rob Romoni is a journalist who would like nothing better than to "out" Ridge to his fans. Romoni never appears onscreen but we hear his broadcasts and phone conversations. Roman Heart is a Hollywood also-ran, and he's in cahoots with Romoni to get evidence on film of Jason "with a cock in his mouth."
    That proves surprisingly hard to do, despite the fact that Jason has several cocks in his mouth over the course of the film. But a seamless story is not one of A Rising Star's strong points.
    One plan that goes awry is to have a gay friend of Romoni pose as a mechanic and come over to repair Jason's car but seduce him instead, while Roman takes pictures. Matt Cole arrives to realign the wheels of Jason's BMW, something he intends to do with only the tools in his hand-carried toolbox. (I told you that the story had its weaknesses.) Matt, who really is the mechanic, has a bang-up fuck with Joe Strong, one of Jason's employees. But Roman thinks that Matt is the plant, so why the heck isn't Roman lurking about with a camera and why didn't he send Matt straight to Jason. OK, I will refrain from clobbering the plot any further, even though I will be strongly tempted to.
    Andrew Justice is the messenger who delivers the new script to Jason, who is outside sunbathing. I have never seen Justice look so preppy; smooth-shaven and with a buzzed haircut, he's a far cry from the grizzled, cigar-chomping stud whose face I've grown accustomed to. Jason, unbelievably, masturbates while he reads the script, telling Andrew to sit down and wait, then asking him to apply lotion. Andrew rubs lotion on Jason's foot, then assists him in stroking his cock. We never actually see Andrew get naked, but suddenly he's in the altogether, sucking the dick of the hottest star in Hollywood. Roman, who is missing a photo opportunity that paparazzi would pay a king's ransom for, is nowhere to be found, despite the fact that he is only a few yards away.
    Sex-wise, this is a very good oral scene. After the orgasms, Jason jumps in the pool and Andrew goes indoors to shower. We follow Andrew into the shower, where his hardon stubbornly refuses to go away. What's a man to do but rub out a second load? That's what he's in the process of doing when Jason wanders in and decides he could go for seconds, too. Since we just watched them give each other long blow jobs, the oral sex in the shower is mostly superfluous. It gets better when Andrew lowers his butt onto Jason's cock for maybe only the second or third time that Justice has bottomed onscreen.
    Marcos David, another employee, who has learned of Roman's plan, rushes in to warn his employer but stays to participate. Jason and Andrew flip, they take turns fucking Marcos, and after everyone cums Jason plans his counter-attack.
    Phase 1 is to seduce Roman (if you can't join 'em, fuck 'em), which he does in front of a fireplace filled with tea-lights. It's a very long an amorous scene that's shot so as to emphasize the enormous physical attractiveness of the two players. Roman makes his signature squeals and whimpers as the bottom of the duo. Revenge never looked so good.
    Phase 2 is to get Blu Kennedy, Jason's friend, to come over and have sex with Marcos David and Joe Strong at the swimming pool, in the belief that Roman will think he can blackmail Jason by filming his employees having sex in the back yard. I think the story jumps orbit here, but sex is earnest. Blu looks terrific and gets to be in a sandwich with Joe's cock his ass and his cock in Marcos.
    In the end, Roman is discredited; the poison-pen journalist becomes Jason's new best friend and Jason get a new script. (I hope it's better than this one was.)
    So how do the pieces fit? The sex is luscious, and that, after all, is the main reason you're here. Joe Strong is really, really good in his two scenes, and even thought he is strictly a top, he is responsive and reciprocating. One of my pet peeves is dialog that can't be deciphered, either because it's mumbled or inaudible, and there was too much lost dialog in A Rising Star. But maybe, in this case, that was a good thing.
    At three hours, the film is a bit long, but an average viewer who watches it over a period of separate viewings probably won't find that to be a problem.
    The packaging is handsome, with a gatefold DVD holder housing the two-disc set and a slipcase to hold it all. The cover photo is very appealing, with Roman Heart's lips looking red and puffy as if he just finished a hot make-out session. There's no credit for the music but the film has an excellent, Spanish-flavored score with some extra strings for the Ridge-Heart scene.
    Disc #1 has the main feature and outtakes; disc #2 has the same outtakes, photo gallery, Web access.

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