Miles' Rating:

Starring: If you can get pass the barely adequate production values of this early Henri Pachard shot on video drama, you'll find a superbly scripted and well-acted look at the lure of illicit sex. Nina Hartley and Mike Horner are a married couple who torture themselves with guilt and the rumbling desire to cheat when separated by her business trip. Siobhan Hunter is his shrink, Jon Martin plays a fantasy lover, Shanna McCullough is Horner's favorite hooker and Alex Greco is the lesbian who stirs long dormant feelings in Nina. This is a genuine find.

The writing scores a bullseye capturing Horner's almost neurotic perchant to cheat, and Nina's need for unattached sex as a way to avoid the pain for fucking someone she can't wholly trust. If there's a problem it is the poor lighting and limited sets used for what was obviously a low-budget mid-'80s shoot.

Superb. Nina lets her emotions simmer until Alex Greco teases them to the surface in one of the most realistic girl-girl scenes of the era.

The Nina/Greco scene is obviously one of the best moments here, as is Horner's matter-of-fact encounter with McCullough (a hooker who sees her work as art), and Horner's wild fuck with Gayle Sterling, an actress who gives herself to Horner while wacko theater director John O'Keefe cheers them on.

The video's technical values are poor.

An 8. A surprisingly realistic look at a sex addict and his confused wife.

Posted By Miles, www.excaliburfilms.com | 10/12/06 1:58 PM