Penny Flame's Expert Guide to Handjobs for Men & Women

Studio: Vivid
Cast: Penny Flame, Harmony, Justice Young, Anthony Rosano

Review by: Gram Ponante

Ms. Flame proves an excellent teacher in "Penny Flame's Expert Guide to Handjobs for Men & Women," which delivers the sexy without skimping on the science.

Appearing before a multi-ethnic and multigenerational classroom, Flame whips out the visual aids, both tasteful black-and-white drawings and flesh-and-blood subjects Harmony and Justice Young, to demonstrate that handjobs are more than masturbation plus distance.

Flame emphasizes lube, hand hygiene, and taking it slow (but firm) with guest Harmony, who allows Flame to squeeze her labia together for the hushed onlookers ("Don't go straight for the clit before it's warmed up," Flame tells you sternly). But tragedy strikes when Justice Young appears for the male component, because Flame only gets him hard - she doesn't allow a release. That, my friends, is not Justice.

And this is the only drawback to the movie. The 30-minute classroom portion is filmed and edited like an infomercial for softcore late-night cable, with all the applause sound effects, approving audience shots, cheesy voiceover, and canned music. The artifice threatens to overwhelm the naturally compelling Flame and make her seem like more of a prop, when in fact her teaching style - when she's allowed to do it - is helpful and personable.

The infomercial gives way to several annotated hardcore scenes, including one with Flame and Anthony Rosano, that fill out the DVD.

· Vivid (vivid.com)
· Buy "Penny Flame's Expert Guide to Hand Jobs" (gamelink.com)

But since we've been impressed by the previous installments of the Expert Guide series, we figured we'd give this one a shot. And, true to form, Tristan impressed us with her efforts. Rather than setting itself up as the end all, be all of threesomology, the "Expert Guide to Threesomes" acts more as a general guide to group sex.

In the educational intro, Tristan explains different threesome configurations, lays out some basic rules, and goes over different roadblocks and pitfalls encountered by couples looking to have a threesome. While its no guarantee of a problem-free debut into the world of group sex, the "Expert Guide" is a good way for couples to open up a discussion about going beyond a twosome—and even if end up deciding that the threeway isn't your way, you'll still get to watch some hot group sex porn.

· Vivid-Ed (vivid-ed.com)

And now, after all that build up, we finally have a copy of "Penny Flame's Expert Guide To Handjobs for Men and Women" in our hands (heh). Was it worth the wait? Our impressions (and a preview gallery) after the jump.

In many ways, Penny Flame's take on the "Expert Guide" series really is the best of both worlds: Penny is an eager (and adorable!) teacher, and her warm and funny screen presence and hands-on demonstrations add a lot to the experience. There's certainly something to be said for a teacher who's willing to show as well as tell, if you know what we mean.

As with all of Tristan's Vivid-Ed releases, "Expert Guide to Hand Jobs" features some extremely hot sex scenes that demonstrate just how sexy hands can be (and how proper hand play can help pave the way for other forms of sexy stimulation, too). If you're in a learning mood, watch the scenes with instruction — Penny's voiceovers guide you through different techniques, while Penny Pop-Ups (a Penny-fied take on the trademark Vivid-Ed pop-ups) wander onscreen to offer specific tips and tricks. Already learned your lesson? Watch the scenes without instruction — they're hot enough to stand on their own, too.

While many of the Penny-fied touches are endearing and adorable, at times there's just a little too much cutesy humor. The feature opens with a faux infomercial advertising Penny's skills (complete with co-star testimonials); while funny, it's also a bit over the top and feels unnecessary — especially as the joke is repeated several times throughout the feature.Though the Penny Flame humor certainly livens things up, in excess it's ultimately more distracting than entertaining, and detracts from an otherwise excellent piece of eduporn.

"Penny Flame's Expert Guide" series certainly shows promise, and we have high hopes for future releases (especially the one about rough sex!). We just hope that in her future releases she's able to tone the cutesy jokes down just a smidge and let her natural charm, educational skills, and the hot, hot sex scenes carry the film on their own.

· Vivid-Ed (vivid-ed.com)
· Buy Penny Flame's Expert Guide To Hand Jobs For Men And Women (gamelink.com)

Keener minds than ours may choose to watch the film with a more critical eye attunded to its potential antifeminist nuances. Then again, with Kristin's coevals Ann Marie Rios, Nicole Sheridan, and Samantha Sin rounding out the cast and sex this hot—not to mention the sight of Randy Spears in the most ridiculous looking fright wig we have ever seen—we’re not entirely sure anyone will be paying much attention to the finer points of story line anyway.

• "Wedding Bell Blues" (DVD info @ wickedpictures.com)