THE FEATURE

Michael Raven's Breathless tries to be both a good porn flick and a gripping police drama. And, at least compared to all previous stabs at porn thrillers, it ain't half bad. Sure, the writing is sometimes obvious and the attempts at gritty style can border on unintentional parody, but the acting and direction—again, considering porn standards—is actually all right. If you like a real drama with your sexual scenarios, give this one a try—it's worth a viewing. But if you're more jaded and prefer just scene after scene of X-rated shenanigans, take a pass. Lots of screen time passes between couplings.

Scene 1

The first scene is a wonderful, passionate lesbian scene starring Devinn Lane and April. Thus, the film introduces us to its main character and her sexual tendencies. The soft lighting and sensual movements add up to quite an arousing girl-girl scene. We get lots of cunnilingus and an out-of-this-world 69 atop a bed. Very well preformed, shot, scored, and lit! Grade: A+

Scene 2

Next, we meet a new set of characters in the form of a burly cop (Steven St. Croix) and a hooker (Sydnee Steele), who have sex on a bed in a motel room. It's a darkly lit scene with no music, but it manages to be fairly hot. We go from great cunnilingus (despite some spitting) to a blowjob in shadows to doggy style missionary (complete with extremely creaky bed) to pop. Grade: B-

A looooong amount of time passes before we get to the next scene. We see Devinn meeting Evan Stone, whom we find killed Sydnee Steele, and the two of them turn into Mickey & Mallory types. We also enjoy a quiet breakfast with Devinn and her cop dad (Mike Horner), who has harsh words to share about her lesbian lifestyle.

Scene 3

Holly Halston gets it on with her cop husband. The music in the scene is UTTERLY annoying, and I couldn't enjoy the sex without hitting the Mute button. Anyway, she bestows a blowjob, he returns the oral favor, he enters from behind, then flips her over, then pop goes the piggie. Grade: C+

Scene 4

Steven St. Croix gets it on with the police dispatcher April. (Wait, I thought she was a lesbian!) The action goes from blow to cunny-lapping to reverse cowgirl to missionary to abdomen-smear—all at the dispatcher's desk! April has a young, virginal quality that's very appealing. Grade: B

Scene 5

This is a nice three-way encounter between Devinn, Venus, and Evan Stone, who really has a remarkably large penis. This scene has some nice positions and camera angles. Lots of insertions and gropings and suckings and fondlings and ball-slappings and moaning and licking and clamping mouths to vaginas. Good stuff! Grade: A-

Entertainingly, the film ends with a police standoff. It's filled with police-radio feedback and flashing cruiser lights, and all the clichés you can imagine. It's humorous for a while, but eventually I was only thinking, MORE SEX! I can't help it. I'm just made that way.

AUDIO/VISUAL PRESENTATION

The DVD gives you a respectable non-anamorphic widescreen presentation. Detail is crisp and colors are very bright and vivid. The Dolby Digital 5.1 presentation is above average for this kind of film, although it's sometimes just gimmicky. Moans are anchored at the front while ambient sounds bounce from speaker to speaker.

SPECIAL FEATURES

Chief among the special features is a Director Commentary with Michael Raven, along with Devinn Lane. They have a laid-back conversation full of kinky humor. It's always entertainingly disconcerting for me to hear a porn actress non-chalantly say something like, "I don't think you'll ever see me do a double-anal scene in my lifetime." Or, "Holy Jesus, I got some big boobies on me." Or, "I can't count how many times I've come on April's face." But that's what makes these porn commentaries so great.

Next is the 25-minute All Access: The Making of Breathless featurette, which walks us through the filming of the movie's major scenes, including many of the "gritty" sequences that the director is quite proud of.

Disappointingly, the Bloopers all revolve around acting—no porn at all! You also get a series of Photo Galleries.

Under Interviews, you can hear Steven St. Croix (10 minutes) and Devinn Lane (4 minutes) talk about the movie. It's always entertaining to hear porn performers talking in earnest about their characters. Regarding Breathless, Lane assures us that "chicks will eat this shit up." Her conversation is pretty fun.

You also get a 7-minute Post Awards Show Interview with Devinn Lane. This is a more formal piece, in which she reflects on the making of the film. She talks about filming a few of the sex scenes, and her talk is interspersed with clips from the film. Fun!

Next is a 4-minute Post Awards Show Interview with Michael Raven, the director. He spends most of the time thanking his crew.

Wrapping things up are Audio Bios, Trailers, and the usual vast assortment of Wicked promotional materials.