Silver Linings

Claudia Ross, known for her work editing Axel Braun's porn movies, directs this light-weight romance that was co-produced by two major porn labels: Adam & Eve and the all-sex oriented Elegant Angel. It's not convincing at all.

Launching point for the screenplay (credited on screen to writer "M." but in press release attributed to director Ross) is the familiar Gwneth Paltrow movie "Sliding Doors", that in turn was based on Krzysztof Kieslowski's classic "Blind Chance".

It poses leading lady Dharma Jones at a fork in the road -she's fired by a mean boss and heads home in an Uber (in which she meets a chatty, flirty passenger Nathan Bronson). Back home she has sex with her lazy, good-for-nothing boyfriend Ryan Driller. With their lengthy XXX scene in the can, director Ross uses a corny technique, familiar from the bygone days of VHS, rolling back the movie in fast rewind mode to the beginning, and presents an alternative timeline for Dharma.

In this one she comes home and finds Driller with another woman (Scarlett Alexis), killing off their relationship. She gets comfort from her friends August Skye and Freya Parker (and we get to watch those two have a lesbian sex scene, another half hour of footage), and they convince her to get a makeover. The original Dharma's role has her acting with a blonde wig on -now she's restyled in her familiar brunette mode.

Further gimmickry has the Uber driver turning out to be sort of a Guardian Angel, and this time around the brunette Dharma goes out with the passenger she met (Bronson), resulting in XXX scene #3. But when she finds out he's married, that timeline also leaves Dharma grieving. An extraneous sex scene for Driller and Scarlett completes the all-important XXX content of the movie. Then, a very phony coda to the movie, which has continuity errors spoiling it, gives her and Bronson a second chance at happiness, and is loaded with phony sentimentality.

Once mighty Adam & Eve has a catalogue of classic movies, but this sure isn't one of them, and the collaboration with gonzo Elegant Angel is further evidence that A & E's importance in Adult Cinema is over.