Envy

Outback/Don Goo

Genre: Feature

Director: Robert Huntington

Cast: Aria, Barrett Blade, Kelly Steele, Hamilton Steele, Temptation, Lee Stone, Venus, Lezley Zen
Non-sex by Nicole London

Length: 84.5 minutes

Date of Production: 1/20/03 (box), 1/28/03 (credits)

Extra's: 14.5 minutes of Behind the Scenes footage, photogallery
Note: There was a bit of a time lag between the audio and video of the BTS feature. It looked great and it was fun watching what amounted to a porn version of a Godzilla flick but some people might get their panties in a bunch about it.

Audio/Video Quality: The picture was presented in 1.33:1 ratio full frame color. Most of the scenes looked decent but some grain and video noise were present as well as motion artifacts. The fleshtones were not always accurate and most of the trouble seemed to be with the lighting and DVD transfer. The audio was a bit worse with the music set way too high (to the point it became distorted) and the vocals appeared to be adjusted to compensate for a flawed recording. I noticed my DVD Player indicated the audio track was in PCM rather than Dolby as well.

Body of Review: Feature porn is a mainstay in the couples market and a variety of companies are trying to take a bit of the action these days from Wicked, VCA< Vivid, and others. As with most start up companies, they tend to have a lot of learning to do and their earlier works usually reflect a host of problems. One such company is Don Goo/Outback. In their latest release, Envy, Director Robert Huntington provides us with a small feature that had something to do with a relationship between a man and a woman. I put it that way because it was barely clear what was going on much of the time and linear logic didn't seem to be used by the screenwriter. In any case, there was some decent sex in the movie, it just needed some polish to fix the technical aspects. Here's a quick breakdown of the scenes by cast:

Scene One: Aria, the bodybuilding porn princess, took care of Barrett in a movie theatre with people nearby (for those who like voyeur scenes). The sex was oral and straight only but I enjoyed it a fair amount once I turned off the audio track.

Scene Two: Kelly, the fiery redhead with the lusciously curvy body, and her real life hubby, Hamilton, had a scene on a kitchen counter. I found the scene warm, and wouldn't have minded getting sweaty with her myself, but the camera rarely stayed in one place long enough for the scene to build up as much heat as it could have. The sex included anal for those who like it and it wasn't bad.

Scene Three: Temptation, the cutie that just had to get those nasty implants, took care of the massive Lee in the next scene at night. I've always thought her to be a hotty but the close-up on her breasts really killed it for me this time. Why? Well, because they literally looked like they were going to burst open at one point. Pass.

Scene Four: Aria, back for some lesbian fun, took care of Kelly and Venus on a big bed. Granted, I'd like to have been there myself but the scene was claustrophobic in how it was shot. Far too often , the camera shot at an extreme close-up and that detracted from the heat the trio tried to generate.

Scene Five: Lezley, the brunette that loves to have sex in front of the camera, took on the massive Lee on a bed. The couple had some real chemistry going on but they didn't seem to know the camera was capturing them in a manner that did not flatter either of them. It had oral and straight only but wasn't too bad.

Summary: Okay, this title isn't going to set the porn world ablaze but I think it showed some potential for future quality. Hiring competent staff or letting the natural learning curve take place can easily fix the technical aspects. The creative aspects, in particular the cast pairings, showed that the director or producer was paying attention to the chemistry of the performers-something a lot of companies never get right (even after years of making movies). That said, while I liked the cast and several of the scenes, I'm going to rate this one as a Rent It because the limitations were substantial and all the heat in the world isn't going to compensate for them at this point in time. I look forward to seeing how much better the company can get over the next few months-I just hope someone out there is listening.