Extramarital

I really like Traci Lords. She may not be the greatest actress in the world but she's rather good in this. She play the dowdy, conservative, reporter to a 'T'. It's a great little thriller which keeps you guessing for a good while. Jeff Fahey is also good as Traci's boss. I think given a decent break Traci could be a top actress. She's certainly no worse than some of today's leading ladies.

I thought that this movie was very well done. The writing is very thought out and the acting is exceptional, particularly in the case of Ms. Lords. She plays Elizabeth, who is a journalist for a stylish magazine who stumbles upon what she believes to be an interesting story. She wants the story to be well done, partly so she can impress her boss, Griff (Jeff Fahey). She is also having marital problems with her husband, Eric (Jack Kerrigan), and finds her jobs as an outlet for her frustration. As the movie's title implies, the story is about sex. But if you are renting this movie simply to see nudity, you might be disappointed. There is a sex scene or two, but they aren't nearly as steamy as those in other sex thrillers. It is the complex plot (particularly the ending) and good acting that makes Extramarital a good movie.

Sometimes I think these bad B grade thrillers and horror movies were made as publicity body guards to shield Traci Lords from obsessive fans of her adult career and more commonly, those who wanted to chastise her for lying about her age. Many of these films were classics of the genre. In the late nineties a new image seemed to develop with lightly colored clothes and pale makeup giving her a ghost like appearance in films like this. Jeff Fahey plays a magazine editor in San Francisco with a thick southern accent. In SF, of all places, why does he have that? I liked the first viewing on home video which seemed to emphasize the erotic undertones while the cable version was more into violence, as usual. She meets a strange Asian looking woman on the plane and suddenly they are close friends. Her boyfriend has a sinister motive for bringing them together. Such contrivances elude logic, bodies and evidence are perfectly hidden, and a potentially interesting movie short changes us. Her editor often says, "You can run, but you can't hide" a phrase often used in Traci's book she wrote, This was used in the film, too.

In Extramarital we see B-actress Traci Lords at her very best. She's all wrapped in horror & suspense here, a type of role that suits her very well.

This mainstream movie lends a lot of its atmosphere from Paul Verhoeven's 'Basic Instinct' (1992), by the way. However, there are differences between the main female characters of Traci Lords ('99) and that of Sharon Stone ('92). For instance, in Extramarital Traci adds some tiny elements from her porn-past. We also shouldn't forget mentioning Extramarital's three main actors. By putting down a convincing performance, each of them greatly contributes to the overall quality of this movie.

All this makes Extramarital into a very enjoyable B-movie. Its storyline shows a good build-up, its tense being well-spread from start to finish. This movie keeps you at the edge of your seat, until its unexpected end.

Caught this the other night... as in wee-hours-of-the-morn' night, and I agree that Ms. Lords turns in a respectable performance in an otherwise vapid 90-minute tease. However, the "steamy" sex scenes fail to deliver because in an effort to prove herself a "serious" thespian, Ms. Lords keeps her naughty bits carefully covered. I know less is supposed to be more, but in a film like this, destined for skinemax viewings, let's show your full beauty, girl! I notice she's made only three very limited-release films since 1998... maybe if she'd go back to showing more, she'd work more.