Deviant Obsession (2002) from Tuna

Deviant Obsession is a Skinemax effort now available on DVD. It stars Brick Randall in her second role. Her first, Scarlet Countess from 2001, is rated 1.5 at IMDB, and this effort scores 2.6. At this rate of improvement, look for a watchable film from her on DVD in 2007. 

Brick, as the film opens, is a lawyer representing the female half of a divorce, and is in the opposing counsel's office presenting a video of the husband cheating. One of the partners in the opposing firm follows her to her car and tries to get a lunch date with her, but she declines. Cut to her in bed with the other partner until they are interrupted by a call from his wife. He goes home to find the wife in possession of incriminating pictures of him with Brick. He leaves, calls Brick, who chooses not to answer the phone, then his partner, who also doesn't answer. He leaves a message on his partner's machine, telling him that he will be in a strip bar, and would like some company for a drink.
 

NUDITY REPORT
  • Venus shows breasts and buns
  • Hard core star Lauren Montgomery shows breasts
  • Brick Randall shows everything, although her wisp of bush is only briefly visible
  • One stripper shows everything
  • Another keeps her g-string on.

Someone phones a woman in the strip bar and talks about him, after which the woman goes over and seduces him, but on the condition that they don't learn each others names. He wakes up in the morning in a motel, and goes home to find that his wife has been murdered, and he is the primary suspect. When nobody will corroborate his alibi, he is charged with murder.

STOP!!! Lets play detective at this point. He is a hot shot lawyer, and so is supposedly bright, right? Someone has clearly framed him for murder, and the woman who picked him up at the strip club had to be part of the plan, but she was a stranger, and had to be taking directions from someone. Clearly only one person knew he would be at the strip club -- his partner.

Ok, we just solved this thriller, or suspense yarn, or whatever it is meant to be, so we can sit back and watch the bouncing boobies. Brick goes to work undercover in the strip club as a stripper. She does overhear one of the strippers and the bar manager saying incriminating things, after the woman (hard core star Venus) demonstrates a lapdance on her. Then, both of those people die in an auto accident. Then Brick seduces the motel night manager, but he is shot shortly after her visit.

Finally, the second partner does an entire confession to Brick just before he intends to kill her, like any of us needed the help figuring it out.

DVD info from Amazon

bare bones, full screen

Lots of acceptable looking naked women doing simulated sex fulfills the minimum requirements for a soft core. The plot attempt, however, is pathetic.

The Critics Vote

  • General USA consensus: two and a half stars. Ebert 2.5/4, Berardinelli 2.5/4.

  • General UK consensus: two stars. Mail 4/10, Telegraph 4/10, Independent 4/10, Guardian 2/10, Times 6/10, Sun 5/10, Express 6/10, BBC 3/5

The People Vote ...

  • Box Office Mojo. It was budgeted at $47 million for production, and the distribution/advertising costs are estimated around $30 million. It did nine million in its first five days, in 2400 theaters. (On the average, the studios get about 55% of box office receipts, the theater owners 45%.)

 
The meaning of the IMDb score: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence equivalent to about three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, comparable to approximately two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, equivalent to about a two star rating from the critics, or a C- from our system. Films rated below five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film - this score is roughly equivalent to one and a half stars from the critics or a D on our scale. (Possibly even less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

My own guideline: A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. C means it will only appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover appeal. (C+ means it has no crossover appeal, but will be considered excellent by genre fans, while C- indicates that it we found it to be a poor movie although genre addicts find it watchable). D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre. F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well. Any film rated C- or better is recommended for fans of that type of film. Any film rated B- or better is recommended for just about anyone. We don't score films below C- that often, because we like movies and we think that most of them have at least a solid niche audience. Now that you know that, you should have serious reservations about any movie below C-.

Based on this description, this is a C-. Minimally acceptable softcore.

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