Staying on Top

I was up at around 5:00am and happened to find this little soft-core flick on showtime. I wasn't expecting much but was really happy to find that the movie was more than just the usual simulated sex and bad acting. It actually had a plot; a plot that I cared about and forced myself to stay up till 7 to find out how it ended. My husband had long since passed out but I was still wondering what was going to happen. It's about this executive named Catherine who quits her job after her mean boss, Cindy, steals an account from her. Catherine decides to go out on her own and start her own firm. The ending was pretty predictable but it was still a fun movie to watch. The things I loved were the story line was believable, the boyfriend looked like a hot regular guy (as opposed to the usual soft core studs who look like male strippers) and the only reason I gave it a 7 was because the version I saw had zero frontal nudity and was cut severely . The script was actually very good. The acting wasn't bad either. I'm ordering my steamy unrated copy right now.

"Staying On Top" is another film of the soft-core erotica genre. I liked this film, although I have seen better. The acting was generally good considering the genre.

Not many people care about the plots of films like this one, but here it is. A new, young advertising executive, Katherine Phillips, is put in charge of a new account. However her supervisor, Cindy La Conte, takes the account away from her. Ms. La Conte wants the account all to herself. Ms. Phillips quits her job from the frustration, but there's a problem. The new account specifically wanted her to do the work, not Ms. La Conte. If the head of the firm finds out that Katherine Phillips quit her job, Cindy La Conte will be out of a job. If things weren't bad enough for Katherine, she finds out that her boyfriend has been cheating on her. Can Katherine Phillips survive Ms. La Conte's schemes while dealing with the emotional turmoil of her love life? Better yet, can she succeed with her dreams?

Ah, who cares? With a gag character name like "La Conte" for the evil female villain, this film is clearly as deep as a baby pool. However, it's not supposed to be deep. This is a film that couples can watch if they're feeling up to "stimulating" entertainment.

Now here's the deal. Six scenes are straight male-to-female scenes, one scene is a one-female-shower scene, and another scene is a one-female massaging-two-other-females then-getting-it-on-with-the-third-female scene. There are three male actors and six female actresses that grace these scenes. Some don't look that good, but most do. Holly Sampson is always great, and Sasha Rochelle was great too.

It's good. If this sort of thing is your bag, check it out.

We all know what type of flick 'Staying on Top' is and thirty minutes in spells it firmly out. Everyone screwing everyone both figuratively and literally. Well worn territory. With the amount of times muff showed up, I knew I had watched the unrated cut too. The female nudity, simulated sex you've come looking for is here, but it might not occur as often as you'd like. You also have to tolerate a largely boring story to get it.

Katherine Phillips (Holly Sampson) fresh out of grad school with some cutting edge ideas is courted by all the marketing firms but joins CBB. Her name alone attracts Lip Ink Cosmetics to have them do their next big line. Except exec Cindy La Conte (Angela Davies) - emphasis on that last name said slowly - won't give up power & control easily. When she unfairly sidelines Katherine and takes over, Cindy thinks she's won the battle. That is until Kat quits, discovers truths and decides to go after that contract for her own newly formed company.

The deception between the two ladies is one note, easily discoverable. There's typical cheating, use of seduction to get ahead. Way too many lines of bum dialog. Story issues aside, it's shot well where it counts. Sampson has sex nine minutes in then later the prerequisite shower masturbation scene. Davies has sex twice (limo, couch) ditto Sasha Peralto as an office secretary (bathtub, poolside). Holly Hollywood (as a masseuse) rubs down both Sampson & Peralto. Then Mia Zottoli (Kat's friend) gets the same treatment followed by some lite girl/girl that provides explicit kitty shots. A model (Leila R. Hashemzadeh) ends up getting naked, sex in a shower too.

'Staying On Top' is a low budget affair from Indigo Entertainment - a shell company Playboy used to release softcore titles - that explains why the first 40 secs look, feel, utilize familiar female talent. If you're going to give it a go seeing the unrated version is a must.

Rating as a softcore flick: A+

Staying on Top stars Holly Sampson as Katherine Phillips, an advertising exec who's shifted out of a big account by her scheming boss Cindy La Conte (Angela Davies). Upset, Katherine quits the agency and starts her own business. This is much to the chagrin of Cindy, who needs Katherine's creative input if she's to have any hope of landing the job. To try and stay one step ahead of Katherine, Cindy uses any means at her disposal, including coercing her assistant Tai (Sasha Peralto) into spying on Katherine. It turns out Tai, who is friends with Katherine but whose career is at risk if she doesn't do what her boss tells her to, may very well be the wildcard that determines who lands the account.

When I review softcore flicks, I usually don't put much emphasis on plot but I made an exception in this case for though the story here isn't particularly outstanding, it's genuinely enjoyable and kept me on my toes with plenty of fun twists and turns. There's actually more to the story than I mentioned, which includes subplots about Katherine's photographer boyfriend and Tai's new romance with Chris. Being a softcore flick, there's obviously going to be a lot of romantic pairings, but the one between Tai and Chris is the only one presented with a real sense of sweetness and charm.

The rest of the movie involves a lot of scheming and double-crossing with the cast turning in some solid performances. As Tai, the amazingly superhot and gorgeous Sasha Peralto is charming and sympathetic, easily the movie's most likable character. Making Tai the focus of attention in the second half of the film proves to be the right choice since we're given someone to actively root for (and also left wondering who she'll ultimately side with).

Holly Sampson, also a superhottie who's never looked better, does a good job as well and is a likable character towards the end, but comes off a little too cocky and arrogant in the beginning. Angela Davies is very believable as the boo-hiss villain, one of those rare instances in a softcore flick where I was actually interested in the outcome because I was hoping to see the villain get her comeuppance.

But of course, as surprisingly fun as the story and characters turned out to be, the sex scenes are really the standout moments here. The film opens up with a scene where Holly rides her boyfriend beside a pool and the scene is so incredibly hot that it's hard to believe later scenes actually match and, in one instance, even surpasses it. One such equally fantastic scene features Holly undressing (where we get the awe-inspiring sight of her in a g-string) and masturbating in the shower, a very stunning sight indeed.

But the boner-inducing Sasha Peralto steals the movie in her two sex scenes, both of which are great (with the former taking place in a hot tub) but the latter one (which also closes off the film) is simply the best scene in the entire film, a nighttime sex scene set beside a pool with Sasha and her boyfriend going through a variety of positions before riding him to utter bliss. This scene is incredibly hot, energetic, and romantic. I've mentioned in another review that I think Sasha is the hottest woman in softcore (maybe even the hottest woman period) and this movie only further asserts that belief. Her adorable face and gorgeous body ensure that just mere sight of her is enough to take one's breath away (and induce a massive boner), but add in the fact that she's constantly nude in this flick and delivers some of the most sexually enthusiastic performances I've seen and it's enough to make one forget about all the other hot women in this flick (or any other movie for that matter) combined!

Two other memorable sex scenes feature Angela Davies inside a limo and Leila Hashemzadeh starting out posing for a photo shoot before things get a lot more explicit. Leila's sex scene actually boasts one of my favorite fetishes, with her nice-looking breasts pressed up against a shower glass door. The production values are also quite high, with a nice variety to the settings, aesthetically pleasing lighting and photography, and just a general look and feel to the production that exudes eroticism. With a fun plot, memorable characters, and great sex scenes this is about as good as it gets for sexy softcore productions.

I didn't get much plot or characterisation from "Staying on Top", but I have to give it a positive review anyway, because it definitely works as soft core. I believe - though I'm not quite sure - that the movie is about a woman who decides to use sex to get to the top of her industry, whatever it is, and an evil scheming woman who tries to stop her. Lots and lots and lots of sex ensues.

About that sex. Some of these women are quite beautiful, especially one named Sasha Peralto, who is one of those natural beauties that really lights up the screen. You don't often get that in soft core. Usually it's women who are only passably attractive, augmented by thousands of dollars of surgery. The highlight is definitely a massage scene that turns into a lesbian sex scene.

There is also a surprise ending, which was fairly memorable, though I didn't get much plot leading up to it, and just barely understood who the bad guy (girl) was supposed to be.

I still say check it out.