Mutual Needs

What a waste of time-- A supposed psychological-sexual-thriller that certainly isn't psychological, barely sexual and offers no thrills that I was aware of. "Mutual Needs" is the story of a sniveling idiot who spends his time playing video games at work and telling jokes that fall flat, yet who manages-- with the help of a too-good-to-be-true call girl-- to con his way into a $150,000 a year ! job with a former high school rival. If you've ever seen a movie where someone is not as they seem, then you already know the rest of the plot and needn't bother watching this bland dreck.

As far as casting-in-order-to-put-the-name-on-the-video-box goes, it should be noted that this movie features Dee Wallace-Stone who, mercifully, has only about four seconds of screen time. A bloated Richard Grieco (who gets top billing in the credits, mind you) has a few seconds more, including helping out in the pivotal turn-the-tables-on-the-psycho ending that such films as these feature.

If a storm knocks out all other channels other than the one airing this cinematic lightweight, read a book.

This film was genious!! I think that any man between 25 and 35 would relate to this film, because we would all love to go back and show our old high school friends how well we did with our careers and with a stunningly beautiful on our arm...the two ultimate conquests of our lives. Talk about ego builders!! I found Rochelle Swanson and the girl who played her roommate to be extremely hot!!! I was so turned on, that I had to attack my wife later!! In a fun way!! I recommend it highly!! Enjoy!!

I was pleasantly surprised when I viewed "Mutual Needs." It's a Playboy produced movie, so you pretty much know what you're gonna get--hot girls and a wafer-thin plot. This movie reminded me a lot of another Playboy movie about corporate warfare, "The Corporate Ladder." It's no coincidence this flick and TCL were both made in 1997.

The movie starts out innocently enough--a man gets dumped by his girlfriend shortly before his 10th annual high school reunion. Obviously afraid of being the laughingstock of the event, he rushes out an hires a hooker to go to the reunion with him. In no time, the hooker, played effortlessly by Rochelle Swanson, makes her way through the party, introducing herself as the man's wife. It works like a charm! In fact, the guy lands a cushy $120,000-a-year job working for one of his former high school classmates. Now, Charlene wants payment. That's where the fun begins.

In a cross between "The Corporate Ladder" with a hint of "Scorned", Charlene makes life a living hell for this poor man, forging loan contracts and running up astronomically high credit bills. Soon enough, however, her past catches up with her.

The sex scenes in this movie were relatively short and seemed to be placed correctly, unlike some other movies of this genre where some of the sex scenes seem to have little to do with the plot.

It drags on in a few places, but not enough to say, "There's 90 minutes of my life I'll never get back." Richard Grieco, a familiar-sounding C-list actor, gets top billing in this movie. Gotta have that star power!!

Sex: C+ Women: B+ Story: B Overall: B

First, the movie is produced by Playboy, so you should expect beautiful women. Sandra (Tricia Lee Pascoe) was a cut above the usual fair and hooked me instantly. Whoa. Kudos to her surgeon! The rest of the movie is about the guy she dumps in the first scene and how he goes to his class reunion to attempt to outdo his class rival, (Richard Grieco). Of course, there is more sex. Most of it pretty decent. This one is better than your common movie in this genre.

"Michael" (Eric Woods) is in a bind. He just had an argument with his girlfriend and now needs someone to accompany him to his 10th high school reunion. So, in a rather desperate move, he calls an escort agency to see if they can help him out. Sure enough, a beautiful woman named "Charlene" (Rochelle Swanson) arrives who fits the bill perfectly. Not only that, but she also manages to impress everyone at the reunion--to include Michael's main rival, "Brandon Collier" (Richard Grieco) who then offers Michael a job at his firm. But things take a sudden turn for the worse not long afterward. Now, rather than reveal any more of this movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it, I will just say that this film could have been pretty bad had it not had one key factor--Rochelle Swanson. She dominated every scene she was in. Unfortunately, the rest of the cast wasn't quite up to the task, and as a result, the overall movie wasn't nearly as good as it could have been. That said, I can only rate this movie as about average.