Call Me: The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleiss

Jason Stewart's first big role is nothing short of amazing. I can't believe he hasn't accumulated a larger body of work at this point in his career. His radio production talents notwithstanding, this fine young actor is geared to take the lead for the next generation. Think Brando in Streetcar Named Desire, except with more gusto. Think Nicholson in The Last Detail, but with more unpredictability. Think Neil Patrick Harris on Doogie Houser, but thinner. However,the moles on his face steal the show. The depth, heart, and sincerity they bring to his persona are one to grow on. Rumor has it that he will be connecting the dots for facial tattoo purposes for a future roll in the next Hannibal Lecter film.

Jason Stewart has a tremendous line that will jumpstart his acting career out of cloneism and into stardum.

Romy better rack this guy before he gets racked by "TNT" or "MTV."

Don't forget where you came from Jay and where you are going. Hey, it takes a lot of practice... PRACTICE man.

Signed "The Clones"

If you've never heard of Heidi Fleiss, the enterprising young woman who went from adolescent party girl to high profile prostitute and became Tinseltown's richest and most famous madame within the span of just a few years, this fast paced made for television drama will fill you in on all the sordid details. What it won't do is help you understand people like Fleiss or care in the least abut her or any of her associates. Norman Snider's script offers few insights into the madame's motivations, though to his credit, he wisely avoids the heavy handed moralizing I expected. Director Charles McDougall's constantly moving camera and slick, quick cuts make the movie look like a 90 minute music video. The combined result is a constantly interesting but rarely emotionally engaging tour through Fleiss's world of seduction and betrayal. The film often seems like little more than an excuse to show sexy babes modeling skimpy lingerie, lounging around the pool in their bikinis, or servicing clients in carefully edited softcore sex scenes. It's all entertaining fluff, but I found myself wishing for a bit more substance underneath all the superficial gloss.

The film's biggest problem can be summed up best in just three words: Jamie-Lynn DiScala. This young actress seems competent enough playing the pampered daughter of a mob boss on THE SOPRANOS, but then I doubt that role would be much of a stretch for a lady who was apparently so obsessed with her own appearance she suffered from a type of bulimia for years. To the best of my knowledge, the Fleiss character is DiScala's first serious adult role and I'm sorry to say she doesn't exactly rise to the challenge. Her idea of portraying a confident, calculating woman is to parade through the film wearing the same vapid smirk on her face in practically every single scene. Her performance is so staggeringly unconvincing it drags down the whole production to the dramatic level of a sixth grade classroom play. In an interview in TV GUIDE, DiScala herself openly admits she wasn't able to relate to the Fleiss character. She goes on to say she discussed the film's sexual content with the director and told him `I don't know how I'm going to be able to do this.' She also divulges that during one of the sex scenes, she broke into tears and had to be replaced by a body double, even though no on-screen nudity was required. These confessions are very sweet and precious, but they do beg the obvious question: why would she accept the leading role in a film about a prostitute if she was so nervous about doing erotic scenes? Did she even bother reading the script before signing the contract?

DiScala claims she trimmed down by 15 pounds for the part, an admittedly serious health risk for a former bulimic. But considering how awkward she looks throughout this movie, her torturous physical preparation for the role only reveals how utterly warped her priorities are as an actress. My advice to Ms. DiScala is skip the dieting in the future and instead concentrate on some acting method classes. Or better yet, stick to playing pouty adolescent princesses and leave the serious adult roles for real actresses.

In a way, though, I suppose DiScala's presence in this film is ultimately appropriate. Both she and the movie as a whole look extremely sexy but fail to display one iota of depth.

Of all the made for television movies I've ever watched, this was one of them. Jamie-Lynn DiScala gave a performance worthy of this film. She showed her range, moving from the known quantity of Meadow Soprano to the sleazy world of satisfying Hollywood players. But even still, this movie was all about Jason Stewart. Slap another mole on that boy. "Ivan, Ivan! Just a couple, please!" When I heard that line, I truly believed he was a paparazzi. Now it doesn't even matter that I didn't really see any photographers themselves, so I couldn't point him out. But all I needed was to hear that line. Perhaps we are better off having not seen him, but the outside of that nightclub came alive when JStew shouted. Well done, phone-slap.

Prostitution shouldn't be a criminal offense punishable by law. It should be considered unethical and people could be tarnished with the black brush of shame, shunned by society, but keep the police out of it. Indeed, let them catch real criminals. For it is even more unethical for the police to get involved in a matter that is simply people, adults, having consensual sex.

(I think this is my wisest review of the lot, but of course nobody's going to pay heed)

Make no mistake, this movie is a goodie. There are four, five bad video edits, you know, the way two scenes are linked together, I see bothersome stripes, beats me how they let that through, possibly hurried work to beat a deadline. But as a product, it has the kind of shine I welcome into my pretty-girls-on-DVD- collection. As for the story, it has to keep to the constraints of being a biopic, this actually happened, nothing is added. The real problem lies in identities that had to be protected just in case of nasty lawsuits. So, some names are very superficially mentioned, but a tell-all this of course ain't. Maybe in a few decades?

There are some disparaging comments made in the reviews, but Jamie-Lynn gives an excellent performance as Heidi Fleiss. Okay, she didn't want to do the nude scenes, but clever (if altogether obvious) editing got past that problem. The complaints about her smirk sounds laden with envy, lots of haters out there who can't stand to look at a pretty girl, and now they're blurring make-believe with reality, and dumping their frustrations on an innocent actress who happens to be playing the part of a prostitute. The sarcasm, the grin, that was her take on Heidi Fleiss, and I wouldn't want it any other way.

She's unforgettable in that bit where she, the Jewess, is offered to an Arab, and absolutely beautiful in that scene where she is lying on the yacht, with old Ivan massaging her back, oh that graceful throat. Not forgetting that plethora of scantily-clad maidens, lazing by the swimming pool, or diving in like graceful dollphins (get it?)...

Movie also very clearly shows just how uncool drug usage is. Red noses anybody?