"What is this publication doing," you may ask, "reviewing a mainstream film?" Well, the name of the newsletter isn't The Children's Video News, friends. AVN is about sex, and so is Star 80. The fact that Mariel Hemingway, as Playboy Playmate Dorothy Stratten, is nude in plenty of scenes, dictates a review here.

Director Bob Fosse has fashioned a compelling biography of yet another media superstar caught short between the meteoric rise to fame and an early grave. Star 80 is all the more fascinating because the demise of Dorothy Stratten was not caused by self-inflicted sounds (as was Gideon's workaholic heart attack in All That Jazz, and Bruce's drug overdose in Lenny.) It was murder. Real murder.

The specific plot details about Stratten's career are unimportant here. Fosse flashes backwards and forward, simulating the blur of events that overwhelmed her, and clouded her naïve judgment. In one short year, Stratten goes from Dairy Queener to the fantasy object of millions of American men, all the while being manipulated by her boyfriend. When she finally exercises some independence and tries to break free from his Svengali-like demeanor, he blows out her brains, sodomizes her, and turns the gun on himself.

Sordid stuff, indeed. However, the movie treats the subject matter in the same fashion as the other events that unfold, which is to say in a daringly objective manner. Rather than involve us in the various (and initially harmless) hi-jinks, Fosse lingers around only long enough to drive the point home. This gives an almost documentary feel to the picture, making the brief scenes of sex and nudity all the more enticing.

As Dorothy, Mariel Hemmingway has little to do but react to the whirlwind of events that quickly engulf her, but she is likeable and convincing (despite her obvious physical miscasting). Her squeaky voice serves as a reminder that the real Stratten was barely out of adolescence when first approached by Paul Snyder (Roberts), a cheap hustler who sweet-talked her into posing nude for the Playboy presentation.

Eric Roberts plays Stratten's manager/boyfriend/murderer with ferocity. The focal point of the film is his insatiable lust for the most tawdry rewards of Strattten's success: money, fame, and sex. Roberts paints an intense and memorable portrait in the role, as with the rest of Star 80, it's brutally realistic.