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Once More, with Feeling: How We Tried to Make the Greatest Porn Film Ever by Victoria Coren
Vicky and Charlie, twenty-somethings, one the son of a vicar, the other the daughter of a much loved Radio 4 and Times columnist, friends for years but never boyfriend/girlfriend, decide to make a hardcore porn movie. Vicky and Charlie are best friends who used to co-review hardcore porn movies. After a year of fat lechers, bored hookers and clunky dialogue, they said, "Hang on, we could make a better film than this ourselves." What was to stop them? Only their conservative families, stammering English reserve, and total lack of experience. They set off at once. This is the extraordinary and hilarious story of their journey from a sofa in North London, through the heart of the sex industry in California, to their own film set in Amsterdam. What happens when a 'nice girl' falls in love with a rent-boy, and a vicar's son attempts to film a gang-bang? Vicky and Charlie learned to see the world through new eyes, and the sex-workers learned how to play cribbage. And together they produced perhaps the most baffling skinflick in history.
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First published August 5, 2002
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About the author
Victoria Coren
7 books52 followersVictoria Elizabeth Coren is an English writer, presenter and professional poker player. Coren writes weekly columns for The Observer and The Guardian newspapers and hosts the BBC Four television quiz show Only Connect.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
December 29, 2014
Occasionally, I'm slow to finish a book simply because there's so much I want to say and I can't [yet] be bothered writing it down. First I'll mention that Once More is fast and great fun to read - and this cover is a near-perfect representation of its tone.
But oh god all the stuff I'd intend to say about about sex-positive feminism and whatever happened to it and how a lot of stuff the book says either seems or is different now, twelve years later, because of how broadband changed porn. But I'm not sure anyone's really answered the question of internet and society in any way that is realistic and liberal and accounts for problems. (Simply barring under 18s from the internet, and effectively, would be brilliant in all sorts of ways, but it ain't gonna happen. The age at which I first used the "information superhighway"? 18.)
And the other tangential bit is about semi-nostalgia for The Erotic Review (the late "snoot" British erotica mag, not the rate-a-hooker website) for which Coren and Skelton reviewed porn and which started them on this project. Within the last six months I've read two books by former contributors. The other being Sebastian Horsley's memoir, for which I still haven't managed to construct a coherent review.
Snag which doesn't have to be: I don't have any of my old copies of TER and I have a feeling that it, like the Idler which I've also looked back at this year, would look somewhat different to me these days. "Innocently rather unreconstructed", possibly. Whilst it was interesting enough to buy for several years, I never *entirely* took to it - an interview with former editrix Rowan Pelling highlights why. She says its dynamic was "the flirtatious relationship between young women and middle-aged men"; middle-aged men, and only well-preserved ones at that, didn't interest me in that way until my mid thirties. But middle-aged? Often writers and protagonists were or seemed older, the ethos harked back to mid-century (perhaps reflecting the sort of material those men had stumbled on in their youth, and nostalgia for the same era now covered in primmer terms by Persephone Books). TER content usually seemed to be allied to those smutty short stories that unexpectedly sprung from literary collections when I was a teenager. ('Histoire Vache' by William Boyd is one dredgeable title.) I'd have probably kept them if it weren't for the illustrations. It was when the 'cartoon porn' laws came in in ?2010?; there were several drawings which seemed likely to contravene them. Stuck bits of duct tape over them because you never know. Especially if, for example, putting stuff in storage. But there was something deeply depressing about them now (just as there would have been, being conscious of the possibly underage and now illegal appearance of people in some of those drawings which I'd hardly noticed before. Very few of any of the pictures in TER had ever been any good IMO. The mags had become depressing to look at, and rendered pretty much valueless by my cautiousness. It was only a year or two before they ended up in the recycling. (Duct taped pages to bin though, as they wouldn't be good for the machines, and that's the kind of nerdy recycler I am.)
Coren and Skelton were, as the book's tone recalls, among the younger, sweeter and more innocent-sounding TER contributors. As near as you could get to the polar opposite of Horseley's debauchery and venom without being prudish. And - was this before, or without knowing of, manifestos for it now easily found online - they wanted to make some porn which had a proper storyline and which wasn't exploitative. And in those days you could finance that sort of thing with a publisher's advance.... Unlike most discussion of the ethics of porn, Once More is funny and non-jargony. It's a bit too thick and fast with the jokes at first, like an eager-to-please up-and-coming standup on a Radio 4 panel show, but later there's an excellent balance of jokes with stuff that happened, reflection and so on. It already harks back to a more innocent age when a) more porn actors got paid for what they do because distribution was via video and DVD, and therefore b) concerns like frequent porn watching by kids, and the [magnitude of] controversial porn addiction, barely existed. Infinitely simpler.
Vicar's son Skelton is sweet and frequently gormless, Coren usually the brains of the operation. Given her feelings for one of the actors, and later DavidMitchellthecomediannottheauthor, what I call gormless is something Coren evidently likes very much. Coren and Skelton are an example of that very 90s trope - after all the decade had only been over for a couple of years - the opposite sex friends with sexual tension (cf. Ellen and Adam, most of Friends at various points etc etc). Kind of an annoying trope, but they are real people and tropes are true for some. Whether or not media-world did, I found out soon enough, and many times over, that it's entirely possible for men and women to be friends without sex getting in the way. But I do like Victoria Coren; I may forget to watch Only Connect ever, but anyone who also feels like "a strange mix of old lady and teenage boy" is in some way a kindred spirit.
In part 1, the two head for the USA, in a Louis Theroux-inflected adventure. They know they want nothing to do with Max Hardcore & gonzo porn, and find some of the "right people", veterans, in mainstream porn still a bit creepy (Bill Margold) - and others, especially the women, simply nice (Jane Hamilton, Sharon Mitchell, Nina Hartley, among others). They are BIG fans of Hartley in particular. And there's a great paragraph where Coren finds these fortysomething women inspiring for the way unapologetically have full, exciting lives without being married - her personal idea of fun might be playing poker or staying at home to finish writing a play and demolish several packs of cigarettes. "I felt like Mowgli at the end of the Jungle Book when he finally sees his own species...they are fully dressed, eating at tables, whilst he swings around in a loincloth talking to a panther. They are many, many steps ahead of him. He just senses something familiar." (p.135) Inspired, but not getting anywhere much, they head to Amsterdam to make their own film before the budget slips through their fingers. And oh, is it shambolic, like a big student event, co-ordinating people and money and places and equipment on a budget and things rarely working out as planned. Actors are difficult to find, they pull out at the last minute (not in that way), they get colds. There have to be some compromises because of the budget. Small compromises in ethics but not the sort which mean it isn't a friendly enterprise for all concerned.
The story of one of their actors, a bisexual former-Yugoslav rent boy who feared deportation, was a brilliant and human portrait of the difficulties that some people in porn might have, with positive and negative and inbetween, so much more than you see in the usual arguments. And among the Americans - these in the nicer end of porn - the most commonly cited reason for going into the industry was to rebel against religious parents.
The only dislikeable bit in the whole book was Coren's high-horsing at an agency manager in Amsterdam who'd done an awful lot for them - quibbling about commission levels and going behind her back in ways that might have made sense had she been setting up a permanent rival, but otherwise came off as petty and likely to make things less comfortable for the people who still had to see one another day in day out long after the authors were back in London.
I've reviewed rather serious aspects here - the quotes in updates below give a better sense of how readable and fun, and charming and nice this book is.
But oh god all the stuff I'd intend to say about about sex-positive feminism and whatever happened to it and how a lot of stuff the book says either seems or is different now, twelve years later, because of how broadband changed porn. But I'm not sure anyone's really answered the question of internet and society in any way that is realistic and liberal and accounts for problems. (Simply barring under 18s from the internet, and effectively, would be brilliant in all sorts of ways, but it ain't gonna happen. The age at which I first used the "information superhighway"? 18.)
And the other tangential bit is about semi-nostalgia for The Erotic Review (the late "snoot" British erotica mag, not the rate-a-hooker website) for which Coren and Skelton reviewed porn and which started them on this project. Within the last six months I've read two books by former contributors. The other being Sebastian Horsley's memoir, for which I still haven't managed to construct a coherent review.
Snag which doesn't have to be: I don't have any of my old copies of TER and I have a feeling that it, like the Idler which I've also looked back at this year, would look somewhat different to me these days. "Innocently rather unreconstructed", possibly. Whilst it was interesting enough to buy for several years, I never *entirely* took to it - an interview with former editrix Rowan Pelling highlights why. She says its dynamic was "the flirtatious relationship between young women and middle-aged men"; middle-aged men, and only well-preserved ones at that, didn't interest me in that way until my mid thirties. But middle-aged? Often writers and protagonists were or seemed older, the ethos harked back to mid-century (perhaps reflecting the sort of material those men had stumbled on in their youth, and nostalgia for the same era now covered in primmer terms by Persephone Books). TER content usually seemed to be allied to those smutty short stories that unexpectedly sprung from literary collections when I was a teenager. ('Histoire Vache' by William Boyd is one dredgeable title.) I'd have probably kept them if it weren't for the illustrations. It was when the 'cartoon porn' laws came in in ?2010?; there were several drawings which seemed likely to contravene them. Stuck bits of duct tape over them because you never know. Especially if, for example, putting stuff in storage. But there was something deeply depressing about them now (just as there would have been, being conscious of the possibly underage and now illegal appearance of people in some of those drawings which I'd hardly noticed before. Very few of any of the pictures in TER had ever been any good IMO. The mags had become depressing to look at, and rendered pretty much valueless by my cautiousness. It was only a year or two before they ended up in the recycling. (Duct taped pages to bin though, as they wouldn't be good for the machines, and that's the kind of nerdy recycler I am.)
Coren and Skelton were, as the book's tone recalls, among the younger, sweeter and more innocent-sounding TER contributors. As near as you could get to the polar opposite of Horseley's debauchery and venom without being prudish. And - was this before, or without knowing of, manifestos for it now easily found online - they wanted to make some porn which had a proper storyline and which wasn't exploitative. And in those days you could finance that sort of thing with a publisher's advance.... Unlike most discussion of the ethics of porn, Once More is funny and non-jargony. It's a bit too thick and fast with the jokes at first, like an eager-to-please up-and-coming standup on a Radio 4 panel show, but later there's an excellent balance of jokes with stuff that happened, reflection and so on. It already harks back to a more innocent age when a) more porn actors got paid for what they do because distribution was via video and DVD, and therefore b) concerns like frequent porn watching by kids, and the [magnitude of] controversial porn addiction, barely existed. Infinitely simpler.
Vicar's son Skelton is sweet and frequently gormless, Coren usually the brains of the operation. Given her feelings for one of the actors, and later DavidMitchellthecomediannottheauthor, what I call gormless is something Coren evidently likes very much. Coren and Skelton are an example of that very 90s trope - after all the decade had only been over for a couple of years - the opposite sex friends with sexual tension (cf. Ellen and Adam, most of Friends at various points etc etc). Kind of an annoying trope, but they are real people and tropes are true for some. Whether or not media-world did, I found out soon enough, and many times over, that it's entirely possible for men and women to be friends without sex getting in the way. But I do like Victoria Coren; I may forget to watch Only Connect ever, but anyone who also feels like "a strange mix of old lady and teenage boy" is in some way a kindred spirit.
In part 1, the two head for the USA, in a Louis Theroux-inflected adventure. They know they want nothing to do with Max Hardcore & gonzo porn, and find some of the "right people", veterans, in mainstream porn still a bit creepy (Bill Margold) - and others, especially the women, simply nice (Jane Hamilton, Sharon Mitchell, Nina Hartley, among others). They are BIG fans of Hartley in particular. And there's a great paragraph where Coren finds these fortysomething women inspiring for the way unapologetically have full, exciting lives without being married - her personal idea of fun might be playing poker or staying at home to finish writing a play and demolish several packs of cigarettes. "I felt like Mowgli at the end of the Jungle Book when he finally sees his own species...they are fully dressed, eating at tables, whilst he swings around in a loincloth talking to a panther. They are many, many steps ahead of him. He just senses something familiar." (p.135) Inspired, but not getting anywhere much, they head to Amsterdam to make their own film before the budget slips through their fingers. And oh, is it shambolic, like a big student event, co-ordinating people and money and places and equipment on a budget and things rarely working out as planned. Actors are difficult to find, they pull out at the last minute (not in that way), they get colds. There have to be some compromises because of the budget. Small compromises in ethics but not the sort which mean it isn't a friendly enterprise for all concerned.
The story of one of their actors, a bisexual former-Yugoslav rent boy who feared deportation, was a brilliant and human portrait of the difficulties that some people in porn might have, with positive and negative and inbetween, so much more than you see in the usual arguments. And among the Americans - these in the nicer end of porn - the most commonly cited reason for going into the industry was to rebel against religious parents.
The only dislikeable bit in the whole book was Coren's high-horsing at an agency manager in Amsterdam who'd done an awful lot for them - quibbling about commission levels and going behind her back in ways that might have made sense had she been setting up a permanent rival, but otherwise came off as petty and likely to make things less comfortable for the people who still had to see one another day in day out long after the authors were back in London.
I've reviewed rather serious aspects here - the quotes in updates below give a better sense of how readable and fun, and charming and nice this book is.
September 19, 2012
All the blurbs on the cover of this book were about how 'surprisingly heartwarming' it was, so I shouldn't have been surprised at how heartwarming it turned out to be. But I was pleasantly surprised. As someone who has always believed in the potential for porn to be cuddly and wholesome, this was a nice affirmation. If you have ever spent any time enjoying the ridiculous aspects of porn, then you will probably enjoy this book, and might even find it surprisingly heartwarming yourself.
January 14, 2015
I enjoyed this about 300000% more than I probably should have done, and was delighted about all aspects of it, except for being embarrassed about reading it on public transport. You should all get copies.
November 26, 2013
If you get bored in the summer and regular hobbies like reading, crochet, animal husbandry and churning butter fail to provide adequate relief, why not round up a group of people to make your very own porn movie?
As Victoria Coren and Charlie Skelton discovered – it can be quite an adventure. Paired up to review porn videos for the periodical The Erotic Review, they decided they could do better and would make the best porn movie EVER!! One with a real plot and everything: ‘telling a story to people who just want to watch sex, and are sitting through the narrative bits under duress, is truly ambitious.’ Ultimately this lead to The Naughty Twins, a celluloid gem about, well, twins who go on a quest to find a mystical artifact and discover the world – especially its sexy parts – as they go. Victoria and Charlie went on a parallel journey of naughty exploration making the movie, being pretty much wide-eyed and naive at the beginning. What will their families think? Especially Charlie’s dad, the vicar?
To distance themselves from friends and family they decide to shoot in Amsterdam, even though they feared that they ‘might get stabbed and thrown in a moonlit canal’. After agreeing on what’s ‘hot’ and what’s ‘not’ (‘boredom’ and ‘death’ are both ‘not’) they decide to write the script in Las Vegas, because “Porn needs to be written in a porny place.” They talk to some veterans from The Biz for advice on their project and come face to face with the realities of the large-scale porn industry – which has a habit of chewing people up and spitting them out.
Then there’s assembling a crew and cast, finding locations, and all the technical hoopla; no mean feat for two directors who don’t know the difference between a ‘boom’ and a ‘gaffer’. They mingle with a variety of oddball characters as they enter a new and morally ambiguous realm. To add to the confusion, Vicky has a dalliance with the bi-sexual, strongly religious, Yugoslavian rent-boy who stars in their movie.
Once More with Feeling is an open, sweet confessional that oozes charm and is drenched in very British irony. Light and entertaining, it makes for perfect summertime reading while containing plenty of funnysophical musings on the topics of morality and sex. Does porn have to be soulless and exploitative?
By the way, the word ‘porn’ only appears on the cover in small letters so you can read it in a train, on the beach, or on a plane without blushing. To read it without laughing out loud is more of a challenge.
www.popcultjunk.com
As Victoria Coren and Charlie Skelton discovered – it can be quite an adventure. Paired up to review porn videos for the periodical The Erotic Review, they decided they could do better and would make the best porn movie EVER!! One with a real plot and everything: ‘telling a story to people who just want to watch sex, and are sitting through the narrative bits under duress, is truly ambitious.’ Ultimately this lead to The Naughty Twins, a celluloid gem about, well, twins who go on a quest to find a mystical artifact and discover the world – especially its sexy parts – as they go. Victoria and Charlie went on a parallel journey of naughty exploration making the movie, being pretty much wide-eyed and naive at the beginning. What will their families think? Especially Charlie’s dad, the vicar?
To distance themselves from friends and family they decide to shoot in Amsterdam, even though they feared that they ‘might get stabbed and thrown in a moonlit canal’. After agreeing on what’s ‘hot’ and what’s ‘not’ (‘boredom’ and ‘death’ are both ‘not’) they decide to write the script in Las Vegas, because “Porn needs to be written in a porny place.” They talk to some veterans from The Biz for advice on their project and come face to face with the realities of the large-scale porn industry – which has a habit of chewing people up and spitting them out.
Then there’s assembling a crew and cast, finding locations, and all the technical hoopla; no mean feat for two directors who don’t know the difference between a ‘boom’ and a ‘gaffer’. They mingle with a variety of oddball characters as they enter a new and morally ambiguous realm. To add to the confusion, Vicky has a dalliance with the bi-sexual, strongly religious, Yugoslavian rent-boy who stars in their movie.
Once More with Feeling is an open, sweet confessional that oozes charm and is drenched in very British irony. Light and entertaining, it makes for perfect summertime reading while containing plenty of funnysophical musings on the topics of morality and sex. Does porn have to be soulless and exploitative?
By the way, the word ‘porn’ only appears on the cover in small letters so you can read it in a train, on the beach, or on a plane without blushing. To read it without laughing out loud is more of a challenge.
www.popcultjunk.com
December 24, 2007
Holy crap, this is a funny book. Two British friends tire of reviewing porn movies and decide to make their own. Hilarity ensues. It's actually very sweet, endearing, and respectful of those in the game, even while poking good-natured fun at them.
Impressive trick: written in the first person by two people. What do you call that?
Impressive trick: written in the first person by two people. What do you call that?
March 9, 2025
I need nothing more in this life than to sit down and queen out with victoria coren mitchell
July 28, 2025
Ik ben al een tijdje fan van Victoria Coren, die de heerlijke nerdy en ingewikkelde quiz Only Connect presenteert. (Te zien op YouTube)
Nooit verwacht dat zij ooit in 2003) een boek over het maken van pornofilms zou hebben geschreven. Samen met Charlie Skelton doet ze onderzoek ze in LA en Las Vegas om vervolgens in Amsterdam zelf een film te produceren en regisseren.
Het boek is grappig (soms hardop gelachen), vol zelfspot, avontuurlijk, plat, maar ook met morele beschouwingen. Van genoten.
Nooit verwacht dat zij ooit in 2003) een boek over het maken van pornofilms zou hebben geschreven. Samen met Charlie Skelton doet ze onderzoek ze in LA en Las Vegas om vervolgens in Amsterdam zelf een film te produceren en regisseren.
Het boek is grappig (soms hardop gelachen), vol zelfspot, avontuurlijk, plat, maar ook met morele beschouwingen. Van genoten.
June 15, 2024
A fun and thought-provoking documentation of the making of a porn film, even if the whole thing is just a stunt to write a book. I was given this 11 years ago by a friend who found it on a forecourt wall, and I finally finished reading it today. I don't know what that says about me, or the book, although I often do feel as dated as this sometimes comes across! I did laugh a good few times, though, and really appreciated the Phil Collins reference, obviously.
January 22, 2015
The book should come with a trigger warning, but then again, the subject matter kind of gives it away.
It builds up slowly and as such, the beginning starts to bore a little, but it's a necessary dumping of information because of the moral complexities that the writers try to tackle. That said, it's both thought provoking and hilarious. Because it's partially set in my country, it was also extremely recognisable, which gave it more colour, but generally, if you could film this story, it should be done. I burst out laughing more than once while reading, but in the end, I came away with mixed feelings about the project and about the people in it. That was intentional and kind of makes the book stronger; the writers definitely take a stance without losing sight of the fact that the topic is complex and most of all subjective.
It builds up slowly and as such, the beginning starts to bore a little, but it's a necessary dumping of information because of the moral complexities that the writers try to tackle. That said, it's both thought provoking and hilarious. Because it's partially set in my country, it was also extremely recognisable, which gave it more colour, but generally, if you could film this story, it should be done. I burst out laughing more than once while reading, but in the end, I came away with mixed feelings about the project and about the people in it. That was intentional and kind of makes the book stronger; the writers definitely take a stance without losing sight of the fact that the topic is complex and most of all subjective.
March 13, 2017
I don't even know if this book is still in print - I bought it at least a dozen years ago - but if it is I HIGHLY recommend it. It's written by two people who review porn movies and decide they can do better, so this is their story of how they set out to make one. I lean pretty much anti-porn for reasons of hardcore feminism, but this book is just wonderful. The first time I read it I was so concerned about the outcome of one person's life that I wrote to the author to ask about them (I was assured the person was fine, thankfully). It's maybe the only time I've ever been involved enough in a book to contact the author afterwards.
May 16, 2021
believe it or not - this was sUch a heartwarming feel good book. i loved every second of it.
May 7, 2023
Book 39/100 for 2023. Some time in the recent past (which blurs together quite a lot these days) my wife and I got into watching old episodes of the British quiz show Only Connect archived on YouTube. Partly because we find the lateral-thinking questions enjoyably challenging, partly because we find the presenter Victoria Coren Mitchell hilarious and charming. When I found out she had written a book, I knew it was bound for my TBR. The fact that it was about two writers becoming amateur filmmakers specifically to create the world's greatest porno was a mere bonus. There is hilarity and charm to spare, but also a surprising amount of pathos and philosophy, as the duo took the assignment seriously and really got to know all the human beings they learned from and worked with, trying valiantly to make art that was both ethical and provocative.
August 26, 2020
This is uninhibited fun! If you are broadminded you should enjoy it. It is [mostly] well written - there are a few sections where things get a little confused and you are not entirely sure which of the authors is 'speaking', but generally that doesn't detract from what is essentially a 'romp' with some serious overtones (or should that be undertones?). I was left with the feeling that I was a little unsure as to whether it had been written purely as a journalistic exercise - a project with the aim of producing a slightly controversial book - or whether the authors set out to answer some more serious questions as to the morality (or otherwise) of the porn industry and the people who worn within it.
August 20, 2022
A fascinating look into the porn and sex industry, both in the US and in Europe. Victoria and Charlie did a fantastic job of making me care about the people in their film, talking about their pasts, their feelings about their work, and their goals for the future. The interviews with porn-industry veterans in LA were eye-opening and genuinely interesting. Attitudes and morals might differ across the board, but all the people portrayed here are complex and heartfelt about their beliefs, whether they're out to educate people about sex, to make some money, or to rebel against their upbringings.
And, of course, it's very funny. Too bad you can't find the film anywhere anymore, the script sounded hilarious.
And, of course, it's very funny. Too bad you can't find the film anywhere anymore, the script sounded hilarious.
July 1, 2025
I read this mainly because I find Victoria Coren funny (I had not heard of Charlie Skelton before), and this is very funny: it's their account of making a porn film in Amsterdam, but making sure that everyone involved was happy, properly paid and didn't do anything they didn't want to.
Which is where the fun starts.
I laughed a lot, even though some scenes (the ones set in the seedier end of the business) were nut-tightening in the worst possible way. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that porn is seedy, exploitative and dangerous, but those bits jarred with the otherwise jaunty (and in places laugh out loud) tone of the rest of the book.
Or perhaps made them more powerful.
Which is where the fun starts.
I laughed a lot, even though some scenes (the ones set in the seedier end of the business) were nut-tightening in the worst possible way. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that porn is seedy, exploitative and dangerous, but those bits jarred with the otherwise jaunty (and in places laugh out loud) tone of the rest of the book.
Or perhaps made them more powerful.
December 2, 2023
This is the best book I read this year, hands down. It took me completely by surprise, and I only found it because it was on the bookshelf in my Airbnb and the cover caught my attention. The authors are so funny, charming, heartwarming, and sometimes painfully obtuse in a way that makes you confident they eventually grew out of it. I’ve been telling everyone to read this book. It sucks that the porn they made is no longer available anywhere, I feel like that would have been really interesting to see after learning so much about the process.
May 25, 2022
I greatly enjoyed Victoria Coren Mitchell’s turn on “Taskmaster” and so stumbled upon her writing, including this pre-David book about her creation of a porn movie with her friend, Charlie. This was a fun telling of the ins and outs (heh - pun intended) of making a hardcore sex film. I wish “The Naughty Twins” was available for viewing! I do have a new deeper appreciation for VCM after reading this, although the ur-VCM “text” is her appearance on the “Off Menu” podcast. Bonkers!
September 30, 2024
Fairly entertaining, but frequently seems like it has no idea how ridiculous it is. Two over-educated underachievers set out to make a porno that will check all their boxes for a high-quality perfect piece of smut, and end up making something that sounds ever bit as idiotic and vacuous as they might ever have hoped to find, and yet they never remark on this.
September 21, 2024
The good: Many hilarious lines, a likeable cast of characters, original and unpretentious prose, unforgettable setting. I want Netflix to put it on film.
The medium: 50 pages too long, Charlie's chapters feel a bit dry. Took me a while to finish even though I enjoyed each individual bit.
The medium: 50 pages too long, Charlie's chapters feel a bit dry. Took me a while to finish even though I enjoyed each individual bit.
February 6, 2018
I loved this book! It was very funny, heartwarming and extremely hard to put down.
Read
September 12, 2021Freakin great. Smart, funny. A little too British but that's not a deal breaker.
February 18, 2022
The butler did it.
In fact, barely anyone did it. I'm not sure what this book is about, unless it's about the clash of Coren and Skelton's Englishness against pornography and Holland.
In fact, barely anyone did it. I'm not sure what this book is about, unless it's about the clash of Coren and Skelton's Englishness against pornography and Holland.
February 27, 2022
Things I did not ever expect to write in a goodreads review - “Hey, does anyone know where to find that porno Victoria Coren-Mitchell co-wrote and shot? I wanna give it a watch.”
August 13, 2015
A fun story about two best friends and journalists and their attempt to make a porn film, covering the whole story from inception to planning to casting to shooting. It's a cavalcade of interesting and pretty well-drawn characters, some nice observations, and I like "Vicky" and "Charlie"'s chemistry together as friends. I wasn't expecting a grand exposé of the realities of porn, but the book acknowledges that, and you get a sense of the authors' shifting opinions and experiences, both with regard to the porn industry and their own personal relationships with sex and erotica. It's also surprisingly poignant, as towards the middle and end of the book they get to know the cast of their film. It's funny, sure, but it's also a refreshingly human story. The sad thing is that, since the book's publication was 13 years ago, the film is pretty much impossible to find.
June 8, 2011
The fact that they said ‘how they tried’ all in all tells you that the journey and process had to be somewhat traumatic but fascinating.
Sure enough, this book had me laughing and cringing with the dynamic duo (Vicky and Charlie) who dared to do the unfathomable for most people.
No matter how one wants to make a movie of any topic, prissy actors will always be prissy actors, things will always run behind schedule and the horrors of show business will always sink its claws into you.
The duo survived but how they made it to the end, I do recommend giving it some of your time.
Most results of porn videos are trashy, bland and horrendous but as always, we’re only seeing the end result.
Behind the scenes is an entire ballgame, eccentric people in the industry included :)
Sure enough, this book had me laughing and cringing with the dynamic duo (Vicky and Charlie) who dared to do the unfathomable for most people.
No matter how one wants to make a movie of any topic, prissy actors will always be prissy actors, things will always run behind schedule and the horrors of show business will always sink its claws into you.
The duo survived but how they made it to the end, I do recommend giving it some of your time.
Most results of porn videos are trashy, bland and horrendous but as always, we’re only seeing the end result.
Behind the scenes is an entire ballgame, eccentric people in the industry included :)
June 12, 2016
This is just about the wierdest premise for a book – or year of one’s life – that I’ve run across, but Coren & Skelton handle it beautifully: they don’t mince words, but they manage to fly a little British cloud of embarrassment over proceedings to great comic effect. It’s an enjoyable read, but can also get you questioning stock assumptions about porn. Brave effort, nicely done.
I just wish there were some way of seeing the film now …
I just wish there were some way of seeing the film now …
October 5, 2009
What a great idea. Two friends (male and female) decide to see if they can make a porn movie that is not exploitative and yet can still deliver what it’s audience wants. It’s often funny absurd and totally true.
Surely the blueprint for that film Zac and Mary Make a Porno (not seen it myself so can’t be 100% on that)
Surely the blueprint for that film Zac and Mary Make a Porno (not seen it myself so can’t be 100% on that)
August 9, 2019
I highly doubt that many people stateside have ever read (or heard of this book). It's by two British journalists who go on a quest to make their own low budget porno film...in Amesterdam. It's surprisingly touching and laugh-out-loud funny.
May 8, 2009
The story of how two friends, British Journalists Victoria Coren (Now also a professional Poker Player) & Charlie Skelton set out to make their own Porn Film.
With some delightfully funny moments; Once More, with Feeling is well worth a read.
With some delightfully funny moments; Once More, with Feeling is well worth a read.
October 27, 2009
Two friends - the journalists Victoria Coren and Charlie Skelton - realise as they watch a porn film that they could do better. So they do, filming in Europe, falling in love with the star and realising that it's not as simple as it appears. Good fun, with a warm heart, this is well worth a read.
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