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A Young Man's World
Rating: 2 Stars
Produced by Barry Knight and Russell Moore. Directed by Kevin Clarke. Videography by Barry Knight, Russell Moore, and Kevin Clarke. Edited by Delta Productions. Music by Rock Hard. Starring Joe Landon, Dave Parker, Ashton Ryan, Jace Hughes, Adam Bristol, Antonio Madeira, Justin Roxx, Trent Sebastian, Jonathan Prescott, Zach Rhodes, Court Logan, and (in non-sexual roles) Kevin Clarke, Barry Knight, Russell Moore, Ron Aron, and Derrick Stanton.
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At a 50th birthday party for Barry Knight, co-producer of this problematic tribute to the joys of youth, the juxtaposition of five middle-aged guests with five young guys in swimsuits offers some intriguing possibilities-- especially since one of the older men is still-gorgeous '80s porn star Derrick Stanton. But the sex scenes that follow are cued by the middle-aged characters' mourning for their lost young manhood, their worshipful fantasies of sex among 18-to-21-year-olds, and their rejection by the young, who own the world. The younger contingent views older men as unattractive, creepy, and old; the older men, who have no sexual interest in each other, seem to agree. A Young Man's World stops short of advocating suicide at age 30, but seems to imply that it wouldn't be a bad idea.

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Some of the sex isn't bad, though the setups are inconsistent and sometimes disorienting. The best of five erotic sequences is the next-to-last, in which off-screen partners Ashton Ryan (The American Way) and delectable newcomer Jace Hughes make sincere, spontaneous, lively, passionate love. The closing three-way comes fitfully to life despite a sour premise, and does include one model, Dave Parker, who seems dangerously thirty-ish. But fans of charismatic Joe Landon (The Apprentice) will be disappointed to see him simply going through the motions here. It doesn't help that Parker and Landon are outfitted with unbecoming leather pants that look plastic.

The most disturbing aspect of A Young Man's World is the on-camera appearance of writer/director Kevin Clarke in a self-trashing, unfunny caricature of an aging lech. He's a predatory slob with straggly, goat-gray hair-- gross, out of shape, and monumentally uncool. When he makes a drunken pass at slender morsel Adam Bristol, who calls him a "fucking asshole" and shoves him into the pool, we're apparently expected to laugh and cheer. (The scene involving Parker and Landon is Clarke's fantasized revenge on Bristol, whom he'd like to see worked over sexually by "real men.")

Later, Bristol and his friends humiliate Clarke by chopping off his hippie locks and mooning him. "Well, they've had their fun," says Clarke in a final voice-over. "I guess it really is a young man's world." Who was this video made for? Narcissistic airhead brats who hate older men, or youth-obsessed older men who hate themselves?