More Than Porn

As a documentary about a porn star, “The Girl Next Door” has a lot to overcome. It could just be a funny movie, amusing us with the very fact that it’s about pornography. But this film has designs on being something better. It is ostensibly the story about Stacy Valentine, who was once defeated housewife Stacy Baker. The film chooses to focus on her struggles and her experiences, giving us a human perspective into the subject matter.

The story follows Stacy’s career for two years, from its inception to an important turning point. We sympathize with her, rooting for her and wanting her to succeed. At this level, the film has already overcome what it could have been. But it has even greater designs.

We are introduced to her first boyfriend after entering into the porn industry. We begin to see his view of who she is. We go home with her to Tulsa Oklahoma and meet her mother and stepfather and see how they feel about her. Slowly, a new point of view emerges.

The great triumph of the film grows from this. Every scene has two meanings. Suddenly we see Stacy’s success in the porn industry as a triumph and a dangerous thing. In one scene, when she says she wants somebody to touch her and not want to have sex with her, we at first feel bad for her. “Stacy, I’ll love you. I’ll be nice to you.” But then we are overcome with the urge to grab her by the shoulders and scream at her. “Get out of porn!” Every time Stacy speaks, we feel conflicted. She seems to also. So does everybody she knows.

This is an honest film about not the porn industry but Stacy Valentine. We are privileged to see all the good and bad effects resulting from each of her choices. With this privileged perspective, we walk out of the film feeling like we have really learned a lot about porn, but also about people. Such is the strength of documentaries: they are about real people. Stacy’s problems are just like those that everybody suffers from and her choices may seem extreme, but they are directly descended from our own.

Four and a half out of five stars.