When the Sunset Boulevard parody starts with the William Holden character face-down in a bathtub, a rubber duck floating nearby, and a voice-over saying "the L.A. tap water killed him," you know that this one's for laughs.

Randy Spears is the screenwriter down on his luck. On the run from the IRS, who turns into the driveway of retired porn star Jewel De'Nyle and her manservant Frank Bukkwyd - all shaved-head and Teutonic authority ("Never block Madame's light"). Spears flashes back to some of his porn writing work - Lee Stone and Allysin Embers in a dead-on parody of bad porn acting at its worst, although the sex makes up for it. He also remembers his attempt to get paid for his writing by director T.P. (George Kaplan), who literally rips the pages out of a script, and well as his trying to get a gig from studio executive Mickey G. (Spears finally gets in with G. and pitches an idea - Sunset Strip - and reader Keri Windsor shoots it down.)

Back at the house, Spears and De'Nyle watch her old videos and act out her scenes for her comeback script. This until Windsor, a would-be writer herself, overcome with guilt at shooting down Spears, calls him to collaborate. (You know the drill.)

Kidding-on-the-square dialogue is well done. (Spears, in voiceover: "As Sid kept me waiting in his outer office, I could easily imagine what was going on between him and his secretary behind those closed doors - because I wrote that kind of crap.") The movie-within-a-movie setup allows for non-contextual sex scenes, the better for cable showing. Pre-nom to the Randy Spears/Keri Windsor set-to for Couples Sex Scene.