A Passion

As time went by, the Skinemax fare this movie was made for degenerated into what we call "clip movies", where a group of actors and actresses sit around and recount so-called stories from their past or of their friends ... no plot, just clips from other movies or the many Skinemax 30-minute series.

This movie actually DOES have a plot, as a woman who escaped from a sexual service company reports that her boyfried was shot and murdered in the escape attempt.

The cops don't believe her, since there is no body, and the movie is her telling them about "The Passion Network" and various sexual encounters. Most of the women in the film do not have "augmented" chests, which is nice, and many of the simulated scenes are sexy.

Worth a watch if you're in that mood.

The sex scenes aren't the greatest, but I have a weakness for movies of this type: a wonderfully, needlessly complicated plot about rich degenerates who pay huge sums of money to attractive young people to have sex with one another, and with them. Stephanie Beaton is a gorgeous redhead who's apparently used self-tanner to get her skin the same shade of red as her hair, so that in her several nude scenes, she looks like a coppery pool of lusty womanhood, especially the writhing scene at the very beginning of the film. There are a few nice twists and turns at the end. It's not Body Heat or anything, but it's pretty damn good for a Skinamax soft core flick.

This movie is really, really bad. Even if it has some cheap nudity, it is a perfect example of what a movie should not be. The acting............bad The sex scenes........bad Direction.............bad Photography...........Terrible.

Please, don't watch this movie, even if your life is in danger; please, please, don't waste your time

It was worse than they thought it was, with cheesy line, wooden actors and some of the most ridiculous simulated sex scenes this side of the equator. And if Stephanie Benton thinks that this fiasco displayed some of her best acting skills. My suggestion would be to find and profession. And let me not start with Robert Knowlton, because he needs to just quit, because acting is definitely not his forte. The boy just sucked and it's a good thing that fast forward is a extremely good option when you don't second guess the observation skills of some of these reviewers. The quality or lack there of with these thespians was so bad that I couldn't even contemplate whether there was a viable plot to follow. My advise would be find something else to do, like watching paint dry, taking out the trash, raking leaves in the middle of the night. Anything but wasting your time watching this poor excuse for a soft porn movie.

"A Passion", or "The Passion Network" as it's usually called on Cinemax and Showtime, is a flick that took me a few viewings to completely soak in. The women look great, the sex scenes are suprisingly good, and the story is passable, if not spectacular.

A young couple, Janna Marks (Stephanie Beaton, a feisty red-head) and Matt (Robert Knowlton) are invited to a strange house where everyone seems to be a bit too horny and sex-a-plenty is going on in every room. They figure, "When in Rome....." and join in on the fun. As the visits pile up and the months go by, they're invited to talk to the owner. He explains to them a complicated setup--they've been invited to be part of a secret network of "super-lovers" from around the world who provide "sexual entertainment" for high-paying customers, via participation or on a extremely secure television network. The video is captured via secret cameras placed throughout the house. "Not even the Pentagon uses the kind of encryption we use," says the guy. Funny stuff there. For their services, they'll be paid $500,000 a year for the next five years. Of course, Matt thinks this is the greatest deal in the world; after all, what guy would turn down the chance to have sex with the hottest babes you can find, with no strings attached? Janna has second thoughts, but doesn't matter to Matt--he wants in.

The story is told mostly in flashback form, with Janna spilling the beans to two eager cops willing to hear the entire story.

Between the passable attempt at storytelling and the passable attempt at an ending, there's a neverending cycle of every sex scene imaginable--two girls, three girls, two girls and a guy, etc. The list goes on and on. The girls are good-looking, and make the sex scenes seem almost-porno quality with the grunting and moaning going on.

While the story wasn't great by any means, most softcore flicks are like this anyway; there's a reason 80% of the grade comes from the purely visual aspects of the movie, folks. The flick delivered on both "Women" and "Sex", so the grade stays fairly high. I'd consider this tapeworthy for the sex scenes, but I wouldn't tape the rest.

Women: A- (Stephanie Beaton is one nice-looking redhead. The rest of the women were anywhere from B- to an A. It's a good thing there were more "A" women than "B" women, though.)

Sex: A- (Plenty of sex scenes, with a great deal of groaning, moaning and the occasional scream from the ladies. Most of them were quite graphic. Not exactly "Desire and Deception", "Girl for Girl", or "Carnal Passion", but it'll do.)

Story: C+ (This is why the grade comes down a notch, folks. I found the story to be a bit far-fetched. Yes, I know it's a skin flick and they're not supposed to be well-written scripts, but let's have some believablility here. If I was grading on story and acting alone, every one of the movies I've reviewed would get either a D or an F. It's not really about the story and I know that, but a secret network not even the government can break into? Come on, now...that's stretching it a bit, isn't it? Some of the dialogue just doesn't make any sense, either.)

Overall: B (Since the story is only 20% of the grade, the overall score drops about one grade level. I thought this was a good movie for the things usually associated with softcore flicks--beautiful women and graphic sex scenes. If the sex scenes were on par with the movies I mentioned, I probably would have given this movie an A.)