One of the late Chuck Vincent's most acclaimed efforts, this is aimed directly at the easily impressed as glossy production values completely overwhelm the brief to the point of perfunctory sex scenes. Never keen to rain on anyone's parade, as well as a fan and past defendant of the director, I have deliberately refrained from reviewing this film until I had the opportunity to see it at least once more, hoping to change my mind and realize that I had been way too harsh in my assessment.
Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to experience BON APPETIT the way Chuck and his loyal lover as well as contributing screenwriter Bill Slobodian (who sadly succumbed to an AIDS-related illness a few years before he did) originally intended, on the big screen at the Brussels ABC theater, Belgium's last remaining 35mm screening adult cinema, the downside being that my initial gut feeling has been proved right.
Hauling cast and crew all over the US as well as various European countries like France, Italy and Germany, though traveling in coach as DoP Larry Revene has confirmed (remember, we're talking Hollywood's deformed kid brother here), Vincent displayed a level of expenditure the adult industry had not yet borne witness to. To keep costs under control, he simultaneously shot a second feature using much the same people and locations, the wholly unpretentious and - perhaps as a result - considerably more enjoyable THAT LUCKY STIFF.
An affectionate tribute to such globe-trotting Rom-Com's of the '50s and '60s like Jean Negulesco's THREE COINS IN THE FOUNTAIN, it's the sole film in Vincent's body of work that's immediately indicative of his well-documented out 'n' proud flamboyance in real life, akin to the Amero brothers' equally gay BLONDE AMBITION. The plot is pure Joan Crawford rags to riches saga with lowly waitress Faith (Kelly Nichols making her adult film debut) stumbling across an opportunity to escape her layabout boyfriend (an all too convincingly sleazy Roger Caine) when she overhears wealthy publisher Mrs. Tillman (then High Society editor in chief Gloria Leonard in a non-sex performance mirroring life) promising a quarter of a million dollar to any woman who succeeds in bedding the world's ten greatest lovers in 50 days.
With initially reluctant photographer Scott (Randy West) in tow, to document her conquests, Faith takes off on a trip around the world, successfully seducing each legendary Lothario. These include TV anchor man Ashley Moore in a funny diving under the news desk bit, American painter in Paris Ron Hudd (incidentally, also a real life painter supplementing his income doing porn), Hollywood heart throb Jack Wrangler and Washington senator Jake Teague visiting a porno palace playing Vincent's JACK 'N' JILL ! Ample travelogue footage seriously slights the sex, most of which feels rushed with Wrangler's appearance in particular amounting to little more than a blink and you've missed it cameo.
Hands down hottest number has Kelly mistakenly pressed into duty as a nude model for artist Hudd, turning him on with a graphic description of a torrid threesome she's supposedly enjoyed with another painter and model, a precursor to her show-stopping soliloquy in Vincent's subsequent and superior GAMES WOMEN PLAY. By contrast, the Fire Island poolside orgy's as listless as they come, the director always having shown precious little interest in group action.
With a cameraman of Revene's pedigree peering through the lens, the movie obviously looks great with fuzzy warm hues embellishing each scene and Vincent's editing keeps the flick moving at break-neck speed making for occasionally effective comedy while nipping any genuine eroticism in the bud for this would require a more thoughtful and measured approach. Film probably played better in its watered down cable version of yore. Naysayers frequently accused Chuck's movies of being soft on sex. Unfortunately, this is one occasion where I feel forced to concur.
