Studio: X-Play/Hustler
Director: Will Ryder
Cast: Thomas Ward, Misty Stone, Cassidy Clay, Sarah Vandella, Tyler Knight, Jaelyn Fox, Tee Reel
The factory-farmed porn parody industry has released an almost perfect example of the art form in “Not the Cosbys XXX”; it does everything you need it to do and nothing you don’t.
What makes “Not the Cosbys XXX” stand out among the crop of porn parodies is not only the amazing performance of Thomas Ward as Cliff and the Pointer Sisters-meet-Rae Dawn Chong accessibility of Misty Stone, but also the set design and costumes by Scott David and the light-n-easy script by director Will Ryder.
But it is L.A. comedian Thomas Ward in a non-sex performance as the benign Cliff who outshines even the set design and the attention to detail in this movie. His role and his jokes are utterly gratuitous as he doesn’t push the plot along at all, but his delivery is so dead-on – and wholesome – that his performance could be airlifted out and sold like a Franklin Mint replica of William Cosby, Ed. D.
One of the cool things the movie does is not fuck with Cliff at all. Literally. Cosby himself could have subbed for Ward and, aside from the planes from the Van Nuys airport buzzing overhead, not known he wasn’t delivering lines from an 80’s Thursday night Must See TV script.
Lisa (the delicious Misty Stone) is trying to decide whether to take her relationship with her boyfriend to the next level. She consults with her mom and older sister, each of whom finds the wherewithal to relate her own sexual experiences, and each of the family members (again, except Cliff), including Theo played by Tyler Knight and Cockroach played by Tee Reel, gets some personal action.
It really is not important how they do it; I watched the movie last night and I have already forgotten.
But for all the things “Cosbys XXX” gets right on purpose, it also happens to be, like the Big Lebowski, “racially pretty cool.” The multiple interracial pairings occur without comment and go down just like in real life.
The one drawback of the movie, and this we can file under Good Problems to Have, is a mostly-Caucasian slumber party orgy featuring Sarah Vandella, Jenny Hendrix, and Jaelyn Fox. But it is hard to stare down the middle of Sarah Vandella and say, “This is irrelevant and extraneous.”
Because I watched “Seinfeld XXX” last week, I feel the need to make a comparison. Both movies paid a lot of attention to detail and both (I’m thinking of Kristina Rose as “Elaina”) featured a standout imitation of one of the original characters. What makes “Cosby XXX” a keeper is that its gimmickry didn’t seem so shoehorned in. So even though “Seinfeld XXX” was technically superior, porn consumers deserve fare that doesn’t require them to wrap their minds around the possibilities.
I spent more time watching the non-sex interaction than the sex. Of course, I was disappointed that there wasn't a scene involving the actress that portrayed "Sandra," but was actually happy there wasn't one featuring "Rudy."
Oh, and Misty Stone's character is "Denise" (or some differently-spelled variation thereof), not "Lisa."