With the Chemistry series, Tristan Taormino set out to do porn differently, and boy am I thrilled that she did. Taormino, whose previous work has pushed the envelope by seamlessly integrating sex tips and tricks with hot scenes, chose to go a slightly different direction with the Chemistry series, in which this film is the fourth. Chemistry is to porn what reality tv is to people watching: it gives the viewer up close and personal insight into what the stars think, feel and do before, during and after a scene.

Now for the details. Chemistry 4, the Orgy Edition, brings together six porn stars in a house for 36 hours. The rules are simple: they can have sex with anyone they want, in any way they want, anywhere they want and with anyone watching. Cameras follow them around to catch all the fun, plus the stars each have their own camera —a perv cam— to catch anything that the big kid cameras might miss. Now that we’ve got the details down, let me get to the good, the bad and the kinky.

The Good:
1. Chemistry is real. Yeah, these actors are porn stars. Yeah, they play a role in every scene they do because, well, it’s impossible to fully pretend that there’s no-one watching if you can see the cameraman’s shadow. That said, I’ve seen some of these performers in other porn and the scenes they do in Chemistry feel much more genuine than any I’ve seen them in before. Partly, I think this stems from the fact that the actors really can sleep with whomever they want, whenever they want, which means these scenes aren’t totally rehearsed and scripted for them. One particularly hot scene occurs between Penny Flame and Johnny Sins—both discuss beforehand how they’ve always wanted to sleep with the other, and then have a simultaneously smoldering hot and incredibly intimate scene.

2. Chemistry is hilarious. If you’ve read my porn reviews before, you know that I like having some minimal plot to go along with my sex. Those plots tend to be dramatic, in most porn, since drama allows for sultry glances and furtive peeks. In contrast, Chemistry is laugh out loud funny. Whether it’s Evan Stone making a puppet out of his penis and talking with it, or the actors doing a spot-on impression of their tantra instructors, these actors have a funny boner that’s standing at attention.

3. Chemistry is hot. I know that throughout this entire review, some of you have been waiting for me to give details of the sexy, sexy loving going on. And it’s true: Chemistry 4 delivers hours of hot orgy action and a whole bunch of pairs of sexers in addition. You can check out the positions room, on either disc, for clips of any sex act you want, or can watch scenes straight through. But the truth is, hot as the sex itself may be, it’s the fact that these are real people (see Good Things 1 and 2) that makes it even hotter. It’s not just that Tyler Knight is at once commanding and intensely vulnerable in one of his scenes with Penny Flame, it’s that we also get to see him joking around and being, dare I say it, shy around the girls. Chemistry feels more like watching a set of really hot couples you know having sex than it feels like porn, and the fact that you get to know the people is what makes it hot, far more than the sex acts themselves.

The Bad:
1. While most of the actors and actresses were great, a few fell flat. Adrianna Nicole seemed less at ease with herself, and her scenes, than did the others, making her scenes feel a bit less genuine. Likewise, Johnny Sins almost seemed bored at times, looking off into space as he pounded his cock into some girl. Both these performers were great at other times, but were less consistent than their peers.

2. Diversity level was so-so. Okay, I’m glad that the porn included two black actors, and that they weren’t fetishized. I was thrilled when Penny Flame discussed not doing scenes with black men before (despite being attracted to them) because of the politics involved in interracial porn being exploitative. That said, the actors still fit a pretty cookie cutter standard of beauty: slim and athletic with minimal body hair.

…and the kinky: for my fellow fetishers, we’ve got some fancy footwork from Adriana to Sinnamon Love, and some upclose and personal shaving time with Evan Stone. Enjoy.

All in all, Chemistry delivers a unique film that takes you into the bedrooms and brains of some hot porn stars. Though it comes up short in a couple areas, Chemistry nonetheless sits head and shoulders above much gonzo porn.