I really liked this movie. Plenty of my favorite women were in it, and the story was very good. I was pleasantly surprised by the acting in this film; there were some fairly dramatic scenes. My review is littered with spoilers; read at your own risk.
Melinda (Catalina Larranaga, who isn't in enough films) is a filmmaker setting out to make a documentary about the exploits of a whorehouse, run by Darby (Kira Reed). At the beginning, she wants to expose the women for being prostitutes, but eventually sees them as human beings doing worthwhile things.
Darby, the madam of the house, is very open with Melinda. Just about everything under the sun happens at this place, but no girl-on-girl stuff. Melinda asks why, but Darby is reluctant to answer. The answer seems to be tied to a particular visitor to the house....a person known only as "V". She tells Melinda that V is part of her private life, and doesn't wish for V to be in the film. It is revealed later on that V is actually a woman Darby has been seeing for three years. "We're in a committed relationship," Darby says.
Melinda also interviews three call girls who work at the house, each with a different personality. Pamela (Kelli McCarty) is an actress by trade and comes off as a very serious, brooding person. She has no tolerance for the girls in the house who make themselves out to be anything more than the prostitutes they all are. Rosemary (Tracy Ryan) is quite the sex fiend, but she has a wholesome aura about her. She's an artist, but spends more time turning tricks than painting. She also mentions she has an M.F.A. degree....but she's a call girl? Are there no jobs for artists out there? Sunny (Susan Featherly) is pretty much a ditzy nymphomaniac. She was doing everything and everyone before she even met Darby. It seems that Darby just provided her a safe place to do the things she'd be doing anyway. "I've got a website," Sunny says happily. I'm sure there's some awesome things on there too.
Melinda secretly tapes V and Darby getting it on in the master bedroom. She makes too much noise, causing Darby and V to find her in the back room. Now that the secret's out, Darby proposes that Melinda come to the club as a client in return for everything she wants to know about V. She does, and Darby sets her up with Rick, her resident stud. After a good seeing-to by Rick, Melinda has a change of heart about the whole thing.
The sex scenes were plentiful, and they were pretty good. Many of the women gave some outstanding acting performances. The scenes at the end, where each character says a filmed goodbye, were excellent. Rosemary showed some heartfelt emotion, and Darby was literally in tears. Pamela's goodbye felt more like her reciting rehearsed lines (maybe to stay in tune with her actress character). Sunny was emotional as well, but not nearly as emotional as the other ones. She threw in another plug for her website, of course. The final scene, where Melinda wraps up the film, is also quite good.
This was a tapeworthy film, as I enjoyed it from beginning to end.
Women: A++ (Tracy Ryan put herself on my Skinemax 2nd 10 list with her performance. Susan Featherly was great; she played the part of Sunny well. Kelli McCarty served as the evil one of the group, and she shined as well. Kira Reed had some of her best acting in this film, and I thought all she wanted to do was get naked. Catalina was fantastic, and an appearance by Regina Russell early on kind of solidified the grade. In short, a great cast doing some great work.)
Sex: A- (Plenty of sex scenes, although the uncut version shows more by comparison. I saw the uncut version a few weeks ago and the R-rated version tonight. The R-rated version would get a B- for sex, but I'm basing my grade on the uncut version.)
Story: A+ (I liked the storyline and the dialogue of this film. Not insulting to the intelligence. It seemed that Pamela and Sunny wanted to go at each other, but Rosemary was the voice of reason between the three of them. The sound guy, Peter, had a thing for Rosemary, which led to her giving him his wish in the lobby, for free I might add.)
Overall: A+ (This was a movie I'm glad I got on tape. I enjoyed it almost as much as I did "Girl for Girl" a few days ago. All the principals involved put on worthwhile performances, the sex scenes were nice, and the script had some meat to it. In conclusion, "House Of Love" is a keeper and definitely a movie I'd like to see again sometime.)
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