Couples Guide To Great Sex Over 40 1 Review

Reviewed by astroknight  on  5/6/2005

The Little Details

Running Time: 66 min.

Production Date: 6 / 10 / 1995

Director: None credited

Cast: Linda, Gary, Ruth, Nick, Gita, Phil, Kathy, and Dan in sexual situations and Dr. Culley Carson and Diana Wiley, M.A. lecturing

The Short Story

Initial Expectations: I?m not sure why this one grabbed my attention. Maybe I?m just curious to see if it covers having sex without breaking a hip...

Initial Reaction: There?s some decent information, but it?s often so try that it might be best watched near a large body of water.

Who Should Watch It : People who are getting a little older and wondering why or how sex

Who Should Avoid It: Anybody who wants all talk and no sexual demonstrations

The Technical Stuff

Audio /Video Quality: The technical aspects feel a bit dated. The audio is clear and nicely balanced, and I don?t think I heard a single problem. The video is a bit more problematic. It?s nicely lit, but there video is slightly blurry and has very soft edges.

Music: There?s a bit of music that appears now and then throughout the featurette. It?s soft in both style and balance, and normally works well for the feature.

Disc Problems / Complaints: There?s no time stamp! Yes, this is a huge pet peeve of mine, but this seems like a must here. It?s an educational DVD and one that some people will want to check back on. Yes, there?s a chapter menu, but from what I understand a time stamp takes a little less than a minimal effort and would allow the viewer to go directly to specific points in the movie rather than just to chapter breaks. Thankfully, this is a problem which has been fixed in recent Sinclair DVDs.

Menus: The menus are pretty basic. The main menu lays out your choices on the standard Sinclair logo while the chapter menu lets you choose a section based on the subject of the chapter.

The Feature

Currently, we live in a culture that?s fairly negative sexually. Yes, it?s getting better in many ways, but it?s still hard to talk about sex in most places. Due to this attitude, the Sinclair Institute has put out several instructional movies. They?re developed as being a video textbook, and Sinclair advocates watching them with your partner so you can stop it and talk about different subjects as you go. This time around, the subject is sex when you get further along in life.

Quite a bit of medication information is covered, most of which revolves around body changes for both men and women as they age. Most of the information about men here is how the body slows down and how erections don?t always come quite as ease. For women, menopause is covered in a fair amount of detail here. There?s both the changes the female body goes through as well as some of the medical treatments women go through when they reach it. There?s also a bit of talk on oral sex, masturbation, and ways to spark sexual arousal. There?s even a little discussion on the lack of sexual arousal. It?s a fairly basic talk on aging, but a good start for the subject.

Several couples are used throughout the feature for both demonstrations as well as additional information. Linda and Gary talk about how they got together, the strength of their relationship, and how they?ve grown sexually over time. They talk about how well massage and sensual touch works for them, ways to make sex more comfortable, and a bit about oral sex. Ruth and Nick, a couple who?s been married for nearly thirty years, talk about realizing that sex wasn?t as fun as it used to be and learning how to explore sex again after being together for years. They?ve also learned that not being able to do things as fast as one used to in their twenties isn?t necessarily a bad thing. Gita and Phil, who are both over sixty and still well in love, talk about the freedom of sex when older as well as the importance of still going out on dates. Finally, Kathy and Dan, both of who are approaching fifty, talk about learning throughout life and sexual fantasies. The couples add nicely to what the doctors talk about while giving the movie a very human feeling.

The Couples Guide to Great Sex Over 40 #1 is a decent educational movie. There?s quite a bit of information covered, and it?s kept pretty basic. Although I?m sure this might turn some people off, I think releases like this are as much to help people gain confidence with sex as anything. There is some sex here, but it?s always handled very tastefully and never gets overly graphic with any gyno-cam shots. The biggest problem here is that the feature is so dry that I had a feeling that if I had even the weakest adult beverage I?d be out within minutes. Forty minutes into it I couldn?t help but watch the clock to start counting it down, which is too bad. The Couples Guide to Great Sex Over 40 #1 has some decent information, but covers it in such a dry and clinical manner that it?s hard to get through it.

The Extra Stuff

In addition to sexual health info, there?s a short No Greater Love featurette. It doesn?t quite last two minutes, and nicely covers the subject of condoms in a passionate and sexy way. It?s a nice little featurette that?s worth watching.

The Down -n- Dirty Sex Stuff

Themes: Straight, instructional, older couples, and toys

Raincoat Factor: Medium low

Condom Usage: None

The Bottom Line:

Currently, many of the Sinclair Institute?s DVDs can be found online for between about $13 and $28 with a few stores offering them at the lower end. Rent this one before you buy it. There?s some nice information, but I don?t know if it bears watching more than once. The technical aspects are also lacking a bit and there isn?t anything unique for extras.

Note to Sinclair: A little work cleaning up your video would go a long way.

If you have any questions or comments, please e-mail me .

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