Reviewed by SexHerald Staff
If you’re the sort of clammy-palmed porn buff trying to sneak in a quick spank before your parents get home, this is not the film for you. If, however, you’re looking for the intelligence, humor and genuine cleverness largely missing from porn since the end of the classic era, look no further.
Mary is the veteran, jaded reporter assigned to cover “Dating in the 21st Century.” You might expect this to lead to a series of torrid, one-time affairs with potential mates, but this movie has other things on its mind. Not only does Mary spend the film’s first half fully clothed and responding with disinterest to the leering come-ons of her many suitors, but it’s a full eighteen minutes before any sex at all materializes. This seems like an eternity in porn time, but while I was waiting I realized something: this is a movie. With characters. And an actual story.
In fact, it isn’t much of a stretch to say that The Assignment offers more insight into gender relations and modern dating than the average Jennifer Lopez movie.
Now, don’t get me wrong, this movie has many of what I consider the distracting flaws of adult entertainment. Some of the performers are inert, every actress is built like an airbrushed jerk-off fantasy, and the sound mix occasionally makes the dialog difficult to pick out from the background noise.
But the look of the film is polished, the characters actually behave consistently, and there is genuine humor. Even better, the writers have taken pains to keep the circumstances of the sex from destroying its plausibility. Instead of an “innocent” cheerleader momentarily protesting before taking on half the offensive line with the skill and aplomb of a Sunset Strip streetwalker (for example), or a nervous job interviewee blowing the boss and taking the mailroom guy from behind for good measure, here the sex is, for the most part, believably embedded within the framework of the story.
And much of the sex is a cut above, thanks to some growling, down-and-dirty performances. You don’t need an Asian fetish to get hot watching Kaylani Lei, for example, in her scene with Steve Hatcher, where the first-date couple goes at it with all the sneering, hip-grinding depravity of rutting animals. Nor do you need an S&M yen to enjoy the Nicole Sheridan-Voodoo domination pairing (a scene which manages the illicit, taboo power thrill of the genre even as it slyly satirizes its conventions and the types of men that are drawn to it).
The camera work, too, is often impressive. An early dialog scene between Mary and her boss, for example, puts the boss on the right side of the frame and a reflection of Mary behind him on her left. It’s a simple thing, but shows a greater sophistication than you usually find in adult films.
The only thing knocking The Assignment down from a five rating is the overall predictability of the sex. What spark it has is thanks largely to the performers, but its choreography and design rarely rise above the paint-by-numbers conventions of mainstream porn. The obligatory girl-on-girl scene and the final “romantic” scene are particularly disappointing.
The DVD does boast a generous package of extras, however, including a lengthy “making of” documentary, on-set interviews and a bones sex scene. TheAssignment
 Email this review to a friend
|
