Call Me: The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleiss

Jason Stewart's first big role is nothing short of amazing. I can't believe he hasn't accumulated a larger body of work at this point in his career. His radio production talents notwithstanding, this fine young actor is geared to take the lead for the next generation. Think Brando in Streetcar Named Desire, except with more gusto. Think Nicholson in The Last Detail, but with more unpredictability. Think Neil Patrick Harris on Doogie Houser, but thinner. However,the moles on his face steal the show. The depth, heart, and sincerity they bring to his persona are one to grow on. Rumor has it that he will be connecting the dots for facial tattoo purposes for a future roll in the next Hannibal Lecter film.

For starters, a movie like this should have been produced to air on cable. That way, sex scenes, foul language and nudity could have been used to save this film. How can you tell a story about prostitution and drugs in LA with PG rated material? Somehow, the network showed some new wave style of nudity that showed very little with fast paced editing and dissolves. It was nice to see Ms. Jaime-Lynn in a role like this, I only wish she had more to work with. Still, the casting for this film was terrible. The Casting Director should be questioned by a congressional panel on why the actors in this movie were terrible. On a serious note, I feel bad that Jaime-Lynn did not hit a home run with this movie. From here, she has to prove herself with some gritty independent features to make herself stand out among the other mediocre actors of her generation.

Whomever had the bright idea to cast Jamie-Lynn DiScala as the notorious Hollywood madam deserves to be fired on the spot. The girl is hot? yes. Can see act? No Her attempt are laughable and her refusal to disrobe leads the director to have the most obvious body double I have EVERY witnessed. This barely passes muster as a TV movie, the "unrated" version is beyond laughable.Steer clear, this film blows harder the the real Mrs. Fleiss did when she was getting started.

Eye Candy: Most of the time when you see Jamie-Lynn DiScala naked it's a body double (I know BOOO!!), but the first time when she dances for Robert Davi you can see a nip slip, not much I know but the best you gonna get; also Emmanuelle Vaugier shows her ass

My Grade: D-

Wild child Heidi Fleiss goes from party girl to queen of Hollywood commercial sex - but the careless house-of-cards soon starts to wobble. Based on an over-reported true story.

Money. Sex. Power. Like cherries on a one armed bandit when they line up you should give a decent pay-out. Here, however, they barely give out a profit.

For a start sex on the mainstream screen is all about foreplay, tease and aftermath rather than the act. The power soap operas like Dallas and Dynasty used sex with far more effect than these producers because they knew the audience could fill in the blank between the bedroom door and next morning themselves. Here we are forced to watch a coupling only being performed for financial gain. There is no before and no after. Nothing has changed. We learn nothing. Does the fact that big money is being exchanged add anything or change anything? Is it any more dramatic (or different) from what goes on in a motel room on the wrong side of town?

Jamie-Lynn Sigler was good (as the questioning daughter) in the Sopranos, but that was an undemanding role. Here she plays a complex women who is supposed to be smart and yet at the same time very dumb. Well dumb if not going to jail is one of your high priorities in life. She also mixed selling drugs with selling sex - one of the golden no-no's. She all but painted a cross on her forehead. Add her refusal to pay bribes/inform to the police and you have a perfect "how not to do it."

Nick Bloomfield's documentary was far more interesting as it played her life as unscripted comedy and tragedy. A bizarre version of the American dream where being famous and being infamous are pretty much the same. I am all for the legalisation of prostitution, but if these are the people that are going to benefit then maybe things are not so bad as they are...

Prostitution shouldn't be a criminal offense punishable by law. It should be considered unethical and people could be tarnished with the black brush of shame, shunned by society, but keep the police out of it. Indeed, let them catch real criminals. For it is even more unethical for the police to get involved in a matter that is simply people, adults, having consensual sex.

(I think this is my wisest review of the lot, but of course nobody's going to pay heed)

Make no mistake, this movie is a goodie. There are four, five bad video edits, you know, the way two scenes are linked together, I see bothersome stripes, beats me how they let that through, possibly hurried work to beat a deadline. But as a product, it has the kind of shine I welcome into my pretty-girls-on-DVD- collection. As for the story, it has to keep to the constraints of being a biopic, this actually happened, nothing is added. The real problem lies in identities that had to be protected just in case of nasty lawsuits. So, some names are very superficially mentioned, but a tell-all this of course ain't. Maybe in a few decades?

There are some disparaging comments made in the reviews, but Jamie-Lynn gives an excellent performance as Heidi Fleiss. Okay, she didn't want to do the nude scenes, but clever (if altogether obvious) editing got past that problem. The complaints about her smirk sounds laden with envy, lots of haters out there who can't stand to look at a pretty girl, and now they're blurring make-believe with reality, and dumping their frustrations on an innocent actress who happens to be playing the part of a prostitute. The sarcasm, the grin, that was her take on Heidi Fleiss, and I wouldn't want it any other way.

She's unforgettable in that bit where she, the Jewess, is offered to an Arab, and absolutely beautiful in that scene where she is lying on the yacht, with old Ivan massaging her back, oh that graceful throat. Not forgetting that plethora of scantily-clad maidens, lazing by the swimming pool, or diving in like graceful dollphins (get it?)...

Movie also very clearly shows just how uncool drug usage is. Red noses anybody?