Review

Beyond Perfect shows that John Rutherford and Jerry Douglas (the team behind the monumental BuckleRoos) can do small just as well as big. It’s a stunning piece of work – the story heartfelt, the acting solid, the cast eager and young, the photography stunning, and the sex as real and passionate as anything you’ll ever see. The finale where the two star tops discover versatility is simply astonishing, and may be the best flip-flop ever filmed. There’s never been anything quite like it in its intimacy, intensity, mutuality and stamina.

The film opens with two guys fucking in a bedroom. In walks Brad Patton, who is as beautiful and blond (and donkey-dicked) as they come. The guy on top is his lover of three years, the brunette Jason Kingsley (and if you look closely, the guy on the bottom is Marcus Iron), so obviously they’ve got a problem. They decide to try couples therapy and visit Dr. Joe Gage, who plays his part to perfection, driving the action with his counseling.

Dr. Gage asks them to describe their meeting. Brad goes first, and we flashback to a sex club and the picture-perfect penis of Chad Thomas. He’s in the middle of an all-oral orgy also featuring Danny Lopez, Marcus Iron, Jason Crew, Andy Briggs and Adam North that is so brilliantly directed and shot, it harkens back to the spectacular cock-sucking finales of Gage’s own seminal Road Trilogy. The guys deep throat and rim each other as a room full of bar patrons look on in studied interest. In the midst of it, Brad sees Jason in tight red t-shirt and white jeans, and the scene ends with Jason coming onto him and pulling out his cock.

But that’s not how Jason remembers it. It was Brad who was wearing the red t-shirt (that red t-shirt becomes a red flag), and first exposed himself. Also, the guys were actually fucking, and the camera fades to Lopez bouncing on Crew’s very long oar. Crew next bends Thomas over, straddles his backside and plows him long and hard. But then Thomas gives Crew a fierce reciprocal fuck missionary style; it’s our first flip-flop, and a sign of things to come.

Back at the therapist’s office, Brad and Jason admit that at first their sex life was perfect, but once they moved in together, things cooled, so they decided to try a threesome. They describe cruising the Castro looking for a candidate, but again their memories differ, as each recalls the other (wearing that same red and white outfit) disappearing with some guy wearing a “Tight End” t-shirt.

According to Jason, Brad goes off with Marc Sterling to a construction site. Brad won’t kiss Marc, but he’s ready for some serious cock-sucking, and we get a good look at that monster. It’s not just the length, it’s the thickness, and Marc can’t quite swallow it – or at least not much more than a third. The real action is the fuck: Brad first lubes Marc’s hairy ass with his tongue and then pummels him hard in three positions. At one point Marc cries out, “Are you ripping me a new asshole?” like he means it!

For Brad, it’s Jason who runs off, heading into a garage with everyone’s favorite sex pig Brad Benton. In an intriguing contrast, Jason gladly kisses Brad before they suck each other. But as with the other pair, the focus is on the lover’s fuck of his trick, with Brad ending up splayed across the hood of a car and Jason ramming him with all his might. Brad cums mid-fuck and then jerks Jason off to a very juicy climax.

By now, both men are ready to throw in the relationship towel, except that they describe to Dr. Joe a very odd - and ultimately revealing - visit to the new neighbors - blondies Pete Ross, Justin Gemini and Timmy Thomas. It seems these three guys are a “triple,” and when Brad asks who’s top and who’s bottom, they reply in perfect unison, “Me!” Pete invites the couple to join them in bed for some fun, but they prefer to lean back and jerk off to the show. And what a show it is, as these three porn pups crawl all over each other, sucking and rimming in every configuration imaginable. Eventually they get anal: Gemini sits down on first Ross; then Thomas; then Gemini fucks Ross doggie style; then Ross fucks Thomas missionary. Finally, Ross lies back so all four - including Patton and Kingsley - can shoot all over his smooth chest.

After watching all that fucking, our lovers admit to Dr. Joe the sad truth - they’re both adamant tops who have never fucked each other, waiting for the other to give up their hole first. They’re at an impasse, so it’s Gage to the rescue. He orders them to undress each other and climb on his desk for totally mutual sex. It begins with one of the best-filmed 69-sessions in years, if not decades. Gage coaxes them to spread each other’s ass-cheeks and dive in with their tongues and fingers. He then gives them a pair of Lucite butt plugs that when inserted, gives the camera a periscope-like view into their inner regions. The grimacing as the toys goes in is real, but so is the pleasure as they twist them while sucking each other off. The good doctor orders them to get dressed and help each other walk home - plugs firmly in place - where the real fucking will commence.

Words can’t describe what happens next; the filming of these two men fucking each other in four different positions really is “perfect,” pure and simple. After easing out the plugs, Brad sits back so Jason can sit down on that behemoth. Then Jason lies down on the floor so Brad can have his turn. Next up is scissors-style, as first Jason then Brad lie on their side so the other can fuck from above. Jason then gets up and bends over the couch with the camera on the floor, before switching places. For the final position, Brad goes first, lifting his legs into the air. Jason enters him and actually jerks him off to a climax while still fucking him. Then - and this has to be seen to be believed - still rock hard after cumming, Brad pushes Jason on the floor and returns the favor, pulling a thick load out of his lover.

The film ends back at the therapist’s office. The men have returned the butt plugs and with their fears of being fucked overcome, they can now begin the real work of repairing their relationship.

There are so many expert touches in Beyond Perfect that show its filmmakers at their peak: the business with that red t-shirt for example, or the same chain that the threesome wear around their necks to show their union. Douglas is clearly having fun with the theme of voyeurism, using it in the sex club, bedroom and office. He also boldly shows each top putting on a rubber every time; in the final scene the rubbers are hidden around like an Easter egg hunt. True devotees of Joe Gage will appreciate the irony of watching him teach two guys how to fuck, knowing that fucking has never been his filming forte. And the DVD extras are great: A full-length commentary by Douglas, Rutherford and Patton (who we learn was a Dutch figure-skating champion and worked in ice shows before becoming a porn star), an image gallery, and Mr. Pam's behind-the-scenes featurette.

So is there anything less-than-perfect about Beyond Perfect?

Well, yeah, maybe. It’s that damn cast - not the performances, the cast itself. It’s almost all uniformly youthful, eager, fresh-faced, lean-bodied, smooth-chested. It feels like Falcon Studios at its best. Except that this isn’t Falcon, it’s Colt and Buckshot, and for Colt, this cast is awfully, awfully young. This reviewer has enthusiastically championed the new Rutherford regime at Colt, and hasn’t minded his mixing things up to broaden the iconic image of the Colt Man. I just worry about the potential diluting of the Colt brand. Pegasus was my favorite mythological creature, so I get a bit nervous when my Colt sprouts Falcon wings.