Film Review: Mope

If anything, filmmaker Lucas Heyne, who is making his feature debut here, knows how to set the mood. The opening is as amusing as it is ominous as we find ourselves in a room full of naked men stare at a red light, cheering as it turns green, and a guy comes in to get everyone pumped up so they can perform the bukkake. They leave the room, and enter another where a lady and a small camera crew are waiting. The scene continues as everyone does the deed while a synthy “Ride of the Valkyries” plays over the sequence. The sleaze and testosterone oozes off the screen in more ways than one. It’s effective, and it sets the strange tone that the film builds from.

The film, which is written by Heyne and Zack Newkirk, is based on a true story that took place a decade ago, following two ambitious guys in the Los Angeles porn scene, Steve Driver (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) and Tommy Dong (Kelly Sry). They are tired of being stuck as mopes – which are essentially bottom of the barrel male talent, and they want to become big stars, or as they put it “the Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker of porn.” However, due to Steve’s arrogance and problems within the industry itself, their are met with numerous obstacles that get in the way of potential success.

Obvious comparisons could be made to something like Boogie Nights, but Michael Bay’s Pain & Gain, which takes a more…let’s say extreme, trashy, and exploitative approach to its wild true story, feels much more appropriate. I love Pain & Gain, but I can’t say the same for Mope because its thematic scope feels far too limited, and it’s handling of tone is a touch less graceful than Bay’s film. That’s not to say there aren’t things to appreciate about Mope.

Whenever the film goes for comedy, it largely works. You get a strong sense that Steve and Tommy are real fans of the industry, and the contrast to their pure fandom with the sleaziness of the industry is fun, and some of the antics they get themselves into is absolutely fun to watch. Brian Huskey also delivers some great line deliveries during some of the shoots, as he plays a director of fetish films that reluctantly gives our two leads a chance at achieving their dream. David Arquette also delivers a great scene stealing moment.

This works because you do buy the bond between Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and Kelly Sry. They have good chemistry with each other, and the filmmakers do a good job in tapping into the general feeling of what it’s like to try and achieve your dream against seemingly impossible odds, even without taking the porn aspect into consideration. The two actors are very good here, they’re very committed to the material, and that commitment allows the film to resonate in ways that the film might not have been able to on a script level.

What did disappoint me about the film is how it doesn’t dig into the characters and the porn industry more. There are countless displays of casual racism, sexism, homophobia, and a general atmosphere of toxic masculinity. The film doesn’t appear to be interested in dissecting or critiquing that culture, instead simply displaying things as they are, which is certainly effective at making you uncomfortable, but not much else. The film is also full of female nudity, yet displays zero full male nudity, and aside from one character who comes in rather late in the film, and only for a bit, there aren’t any significant female characters at all.

One could argue, it’s less about the industry itself, and is more of a character study. That makes sense, of the two, Steve is the one who really drives the film, and is the one with the most agency, with the most passion. He’s a compelling character. He’s driven, but at a point, you realize he clearly has some kind of mental illness. Unfortunately, as a character study, it stumbles a bit because we – as an audience – are only made aware of things as they come in the story. There is a revelation that he had a violent crime in his past almost two-thirds of the way into the film, as discovered by Tommy. It’s hard to get into his mindset when so much of the film feels distant. Had the focus been on his perspective from the beginning, I feel like that would have served the story better.

Despite these issues, I wouldn’t say I had a bad time watching Mope. In fact, for most of it, I was admiring the fearlessness of Lucas Heyne, though I do think he could have gone even further in certain aspects. I like that the film is more than willing to make you uncomfortable, willing to make you feel dirty. It’s very well made, featuring vibrant and striking camera work from Bryan Koss and a moody score from Jonathan Snipes. Much of it is certainly in bad taste, but that stuff is usually my jam anyway – although, I’m not fond of the use of real death footage at the end of the film. As a film, it’s solid, but full of frustrations and missed opportunities, but as a debut, I think it shows promise for Heyne as a filmmaker, and our two leads put in good work that I think this is definitely something that is worth seeking out. At least, if you think you can stomach it. I mean, it’s not everyday that you can say a cuckcold gangbang scene contains a great piece of character development.