Despite being a true story of jealousy and murder in the world of gay porn, King Cobra is neither thoughtful enough to find meaning in it, nor seedy enough to turn it into trashy fun. Instead, it’s a blandly watchable, ultimately pointless melodrama aimed at titillating gay audiences without actually satisfying them.
Garrett Clayton, a Zac Efron clone also spawned from the Disney Channel, stars as a teenage twink who calls himself Brent Corrigan and wants to be a porn star. He gets his wish with Stephen (Christian Slater), a skeevy, closeted, 40-ish photographer who runs a “barely legal” site and is smitten with Brent. Meanwhile, a mentally unbalanced hustler named Joe (James Franco) (of course James Franco is in this, and co-produced it) is trying to make his dopey submissive boyfriend (Keegan Allen) the next big thing.