Tom Law plays a wide-eyed Kansas guy who moves to New York City in this reissue of director Toby Ross’s 1987 classic Mr. Wonderful. The plot unfolds in vignettes in which Law works a day job (sadly, in the World Trade Center), rides the graffiti-covered subway and cruises for his ideal man. In a racy voice-over, Law describes how he places a personal ad in the paper to meet guys who pose for him as a photographer. There’s the married trucker who won’t show his face (Tom James) and the kinky brothers (Everett Storm and Monroe Perry) who wear black leather and whip each other. But Law only has eyes for his co-worker (Carl Loomis), whom he lands in the final scene. The transfer here is awful — fuzzy and grainy picture quality and muffled sound — but the moody photography and gritty realism of late-’80s NYC are beautifully captured. And Law, in his oversize Clark Kent glasses, is a charmer, working the camera in closeup and making us feel like we’re part of his adventure as he wanders through the Ramble in Central Park. There’s a great, natural quality to the models, and Ross shoots them using different film stocks and creative camera angles, making this an arty trip back in time.

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Who says gayporn can't be fun? Toby Ross proved with Classmates that he has a way with gentle humor and tender romance. That soft touch gets full play in Mr. Wonderful.

Mr. Wonderful in this case is the erotic alter-ego of star Tom Law-by day a mild-mannered Manhattan office preppy, by night a virile superstud, at first in his dreams, and finally in reality. Director Ross does a great job of exploiting this Clark Kentish fantasy material. What could be sexier than seeing a nerd-at-first-sight unexpectedly transformed into the hunk dreams are made of as he sheds his glasses, suit and tie?

Credit Toby Ross for giving us a fairly ordinary, average-looking star and showing us the sexual dynamo inside. Credit Tom Law for living up to the director's expectations; here's a porn star who exudes (or protrudes?) a very cocky self-confidence. Mr. Wonderful is a clear case of dynamite chemistry between a videomaker and his subject.

Ross does a fine job of conveying a wistful mood and of capturing the streets of New York. The cast is large and caried, and the sex is admirably safe without sacrificing heat. My only real complaint: Ross deserves a better cameraman. If Mr. Wonderful only looked as good as it plays, this would be four-A material all the way.

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