The Escort

A romantic comedy about an Escort and a Journalist. Luckily it's not attempting to be a new 'Pretty Woman', instead its just a pleasant romantic comedy about two people searching for love. It won't win any awards, but it was worth seeing.

I hope that talking about sex doesn't bother you, otherwise you won't be able to appreciate this comedy.

It's a love story spiced with some very good characters. Lindsy Fonseca is pretty (as she was in Kick-Ass) and Michael Doneger plays the part very well: he also wrote the script (together with Brandon A. Cohen), which is an always noteworthy something.

The story flows fluidly until its natural end and effortlessly keeps your attention high. It deals with talented (and good looking) young people living unusual and interesting lives. And the result is entertaining.

I'll keep this short; 'The Escort' has covered most of a touching movie. Bouncing between the edges of morality, love, humour and drama you'll find a chemical reaction between two well played characters both struggling with their shadow sides of life.

Both Fonseca and Doneger performing par excellence and in contrast to the sufficient (sometimes close to over-)acting by Campbell and other co-stars.

The story itself is a contemporary version of existing grandeurs like 'Pretty Woman' and 'Indecent proposal'. If there is anything negative to mention it is the lacking depth and meagre storyline.

Not a rough diamond but certainly a polished ruby, well worth viewing.

As a romantic comedy it is not bad, but that means very little, since the standard for these things is pretty low. The biggest sin of the film is that it doesn't have anything new to bring to the table. From the moment you read the description or from the first five minutes you know what is going to happen and how it is going to happen.

Yes, Lyndsy Fonseca is damn cute and yes, the film does star Bruce Campbell. But guess what? She is boring and he is not funny. And the "hip" references of the film are actually quite insulting and show the indifference, incompetence or both of the people who wrote the script.

Bottom line: I see no reason why anyone would watch this film. Not because it is awful, but because unless you are a hooker with feelings for someone or a sex addict who needs a hooker as a girlfriend it is unlikely you will feel anything for any of the characters.

The above synopsis (that written on this Amazon page, next to the film title) is all wrong. So I will attempt to write my own.

The Escort is a sincerely honest film following the life of a young, female escort (Natalie) who feels 'forced' into the profession because of a past experience. When she catches the attention of a young unemployed 'journalist' (Mich), who is also a sex addict, she finds herself questioning her lifestyle. I'm kidding, they actually happen to have a lot of common ground- who'd have thought? So there is no judgement of one another, and they devise an agreement to help one another: Natalie agrees to be the subject of a controversial journalism project, that may just win Mich the career of his dreams. And, Mich agrees to serve as Natalie's protection and security (against reckless, violent clients), per Natalie's request. They hit it off, as friends, getting to know one another. But then, they become more....but are either of them ready for that? Natalie pursues a sex-filled life because it's all she can do. For Mich, it's all he wants to do.

This film is very mature, but surprisingly there is no nudity. And the acting and casting choices were commendable. It really worked. I would say there definitely was comedy in this, but it wasn't very strong. The only comedy I appreciated was how Mich's family and friends reacted to the revelation of him being a sex addict. What I didn't appreciate was having a twelve-year-old curse and utter such profanities -this is not comedy. Having to resort to this, to get a laugh from the audience is cheap and crass. I would say this film is more of the drama genre.

The only other thing I didn't like was how Mich had no respect for women, he used them for sex and then, dismissed them easily. This was expected of course, (for a sex addict), but I didn't like it.

It was strangely refreshing to find that this was not a film where love forcefully changes you. Instead they made the choice to change their lifestyles for love, there was no obligation to do so: it was based on opportunity. This means that Mich was not her 'saviour', she was an independent but lonely woman. She didn't need him, she wanted him. If that's not love, I don't know what is.

Likewise, it was also refreshing to find that Natalie was not brought into the 'escort' business because of a poor upbringing, 'that it was all she ever knew'. It wasn't that at all, she was actually Stanford -educated. Such controversy.