Audio/Video Quality: The video is shot in HD widescreen. The first and second scenes are nicely lit and look natural, the first with especially lovely shadows; the third scene is darker doesn't look as great. The audio from the performers is fine, but is padded with background music, so feels a bit muddy.

Tristan Taormino's Expert Guide to Threesomes begins with a
lesson from Tristan, about nine minutes long. As you might imagine,
nine minutes isn't much time to go beyond the basics. Tristan explains
the reasons people engage in threesomes, the types of threesomes (the
triangle threesome in which everyone is sexual with everyone, and the
"V" threesome in which two people have sex with a third person, but not
each other), and the opportunities that threesomes present (e.g., for
you to have sex with a person of a gender different than your
partner's).

Tristan lists and explains eight main tips, beginning with "Get on
the same page" and finishing with "Talk about it afterward."
Unfortunately, there is not much in the middle that struck me as
non-obvious. Many of the rules have to do with setting boundaries,
sticking to them, and communicating. To test my hypothesis that some of
her tips were self-evident, I asked my friend (who has never had a
threesome) what her tips for threesome-goers would be. She gave me
three main points that almost directly coincided with some of
Tristan's. I did appreciate, however, that Tristan gives some excellent
examples to make her tips more meaningful.

All of this advice is useful and agreeable, but, disappointingly,
little of it is implemented throughout the three sex scenes. We never
see the stars discuss their limits, so we can't see them follow
through, communicate throughout the scene, or check in afterward.
Obviously, this is porn, so it is perhaps silly of me to expect such
things; how could pornstars pretend to be having a real-life threesome,
anyway? But without any of these communicative moments, the film plays
more like a collection of three sex scenes with a lecture tacked on the
front.

The first scene features Haileey James, India Summer, and Jack
Lawrence, in a "V" threesome in which Haileey and India interact
minimally. Haileey is adorable as fuck, with an upturned nose and
beautiful lips, and I must find more of her. I'm familiar with Jack
Lawrence, and he is a quiet guy who loves performing cunnilingus. India
hurts the scene, for me; her moaning doesn't have much range, and seems
to be all loud cries.

Jack puts his fingers and mouth to work on both women, then they
break out the Layaspot for some extra stimulation. Although they
consistently use what I understand to be the wrong end of the Layaspot,
I enjoyed seeing it incorporated -- one of my favorite moments was when
India held it against Haileey's clit while Jack fucked her. Any time
Jack fucked India, which was less frequent, I was displeased.

Scene two involves Daisy Marie, Christian, and Derrick Pierce. This
is another "V" threesome, this time with the dudes steering clear of
one another (unfortunately).

I like all of these performers, and there were some refreshing
laughs had by them at times, but the scene felt bland to me. Daisy
spends most of the scene sucking one cock while being fucked with
another -- not exactly the most original (or realistic, if you ask me)
sex act for one chick and two dudes to engage in. At one point, Daisy
rides Christian while Derrick looks on, jacking off; this is nice, but
short-lived.

The third, final scene is between Penny Flame, Harmony, and Justice
Young, in a triangle threesome. Harmony's dirty talk, Penny's licking
of Justice's feet, and the inclusion of the Hitachi Magic Wand all add
spice to this scene... yet I still wasn't very into it. As in the
previous scene, a lot of attention is paid to fellatio, with little
room for cunnilingus.

I was surprised by how little communication actually took place in
these scenes. Definitely no more communication than in the average porn
film. The editing (per the porn film standard) cuts out most instances
of awkwardness or changing of positions, so everything seems to move
unrealistically smoothly. Also, there is soft music in the background
of all the scenes. It's tolerably modern, but any music still detracts
from the action, in my opinion. The only thing that truly connects
these scenes to the lesson preceding it is the few pop-ups and
voice-overs that sporadically remind the viewer that "this is not a
contest," "it's okay to sit back and watch," etc.

I wanted to like this film, as I have a lot of faith in Tristan
Taormino, but it missed the mark for me. I didn't feel very enlightened
by the lesson, and I didn't crave the sex scenes past the first two
watches. My individual taste may have a lot to do with it, though, as I
consider myself fairly tuned-in to the importance of communication,
especially in sexual matters such as threesomes, and I also expect more
originality from these pornstars. It is entirely possible that some
couples could watch this film and glean a lot from it, and think it's
hot, if they are not big porn watchers. And of course Tristan's
instruction is down-to-earth and very appealing. If you're thinking
about a threesome, it certainly couldn't hurt to watch Tristan's lesson
first -- just don't expect the three subsequent scenes to be very
instructive.