Up For Grabs

Vivid Entertainment

Genre: Feature

Director: Fred J. Lincoln

Cast: Tina Tyler, Evan Stone, Alexandra Quinn, Michael J. Cox, Farrah, Ava Vincent, TJ Hart, Kyle Stone, Eric Price

Length: 72 minutes

Date of Production: 4/14/2000

Extra's: The best extras for most fans will be the five unrelated sex scenes from other movies. None of them had Farrah in them and all were from 2003. There was a short biography of Farrah, some trailers, and a couple of photogalleries to go with the spam but I preferred that 7 minutes of bloopers more than the rest of the extras. There was a double-sided DVD cover and the usual setup for a Vivid release with a positions room and scene chapters, but nothing exceptional.

Condoms: Yes

Audio/Video Quality: The picture was presented in the original aspect ratio of 1.33:1 full frame, as most porn is shot these days. The picture was somewhat mixed, with grain and video noise prevalent in most of the scenes. The movie looked to be a low budget quickie shot on videotape so it should come as no surprise that it looked this way. To be fair, it looked better than many of the latest releases by Vivid since most of them seem to try to imitate film, at the expense of clarity of the picture, but fans of the cast won't care. The audio was presented in the usual stereo English but I think the source material was in monaural since I didn't hear any separation between the channels and the dynamic range was limited.

Body of Review: Vivid Entertainment is something of the crown jewel in the Hustler empire, now that it is owned by the famous Larry Flynt company. Vivid has been around for a long time and this acquisition by Hustler marks a steering point in the company's targeted audience. With a stable of contract performers that are very well known and a number of directors that churn them out with the best of them, you can always bet that their movies will be directed towards the couple's crowd. One of their older movies, Up For Grabs, is now on DVD and it gave me a chance to see some of my favorite performers from yesteryear in action. The DVD cover would lead me to believe that Farrah was the star of the show but it turned out that Tina Tyler was actually the lead. The story dealt with a woman, Tina, trying to find her husband, Eric, a new woman since she has decided to leave him for another man, Evan. She spends her day looking for a suitable replacement and that's the focus of the story. Here's a breakdown of the scenes by cast:

Scene One: Tina, the Goth-looking gal with lots of experience in the jizz bizz, and Evan, started off the show with a 69. The contrast in their skin tone was interesting; her milky white skin versus his tanned body looked visually appealing. While many would argue her best years were gone long ago, a number of fans enjoy watching older women in porn. Sexually, the scene was not her most interesting work but Evan provided a suitable partner for her and the two did the oral with straight sex route as expected. She finished it by jerking him off onto her face and in her mouth but the passive role wasn't really in character for her.

Scene Two: Alexandra, a redhead that nearly destroyed the porn industry when it was found she was making movies while underage (much like Tracy Lords), and Michael, had a scene in a living room. He started off by going down on her and she returned the favor by blowing him, displaying some of the energy that kept her on people's minds so long ago. While I didn't like her stretch marks, she knew how to milk a nut better than women half her age in this one. They screwed in several positions before she jerked him off into her waiting mouth, making for a warm scene.

Scene Three: Farrah and Ava, a couple of blondes that contrasted by virtue of body shape (Ava being lean and Farrah being curvy), had a scene in a shower that proved cleanliness is next to lesbianism in the porn world. They ate each other out for a bit and used to toys to finish each other off. The sexual energy seemed minimal and I didn't like the scene (I'm known as a big Ava Vincent fan too).

Scene Four: TJ, another blonde that I've enjoyed watching over the years, and Kyle, a funny man in a number of movies, had a scene in a domestic situation too. They did oral on one another and she seemed enthusiastic, taunting him with her eyes as she milked his nut, but the short pussy boning gave way to the anal sex too quickly for my tastes. I liked her verbal skills but the overall energy was lacking here and that's a shame since I like both of them in most of their movies. It ended with a popshot to her chest for those keeping track.

Scene Five: Tina and Farrah teamed up to do Eric in this last scene. Tina's skills were far better than her younger associate but each added something to the mix as they attacked Eric's meat. Tina was more in charge here but still subordinate to Eric and Farrah was the focus of the sex in most of the scene, weakening it for me. The sex was oral and straight only and while I'd pick Tina over Farrah any day of the week, neither was at their best in this movie (no wonder Vivid sat on it for so long).

Summary: Tina's recent attempts to break into the off screen part of the jizz bizz have proven less than successful but the good news is that she still has a lot of movies to be released on DVD. This was one of her weaker efforts and the rest of the cast wasn't all that great either so unless you're a slavering fan boy for them or you can pick this up on sale, you'll want to think of this one as a Skip It. The production values weren't bad but the sexual energy was far too low and the variety of fun far too limited so look for something better to satisfy your needs.

Note: You can see recent candid shots of several recent performers by visiting: My Photo's and read about their antics at 2004 AEE Show.