Inside Marie's Play Place Review

Distributor: Maddie G Productions Edition Details: Standard DVD Movie Specs: Genres: Feature Film, Comedy Also known as: Inside Marie's Play Place Run Time: 87 minutes Rated: XXX Release Year: 2009 Director: Marie Madison Written by: Marie Madison, Mark Audess, David Hurley, Bradley Grace Director of Photography: unknown Cast: Marie Madison, Presley Scott, Jade Houston, David Hurley, Bradley Grace, Mark Audess, D.J., Mark the Handyman Release Specs: Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: none Video: Widescreen, 1.85:1 (anamorphic) Video Format: NTSC Format: DVD-R Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): 0 (All) Number of discs: 1

With the current popularity of adult version of well-liked mainstream sitcoms made by studios like X-Play, Hustler and New Sensations, the concept of an original adult sitcom seems like the next reasonable step. What was surprising though, it wasn't one of those companies that came up with the idea, but a little independent studio, Maddie G Productions.

Inside Marie's Play Place is an adult situational comedy that is set backstage in an adult studio. The first episode introduces us to Marie's Play Place and the characters that I assume will end up being the regulars. Although not a bad movie, this series is off to a rocky start. The writers don't seem to be comfortable with the format yet and it appears disjointed in portions. The three places it most stood out were the newscaster stuck in about Presley Scott squirting, which didn't seem to fit the style of the rest of the movie. The second place was where Mark Audess was taking still photographs of Presley Scott set to music which was mixed with still frames of the photographs being panned. Switching to the photographs broke the flow of the movie. The third place was when the title cards for the “movie” being shot Remington Iron's Meat Delivery Volume 73 showed on the screen. Again, it broke the flow of the movie, ultimately hurting it.

There were also some places of missed potential, for example when Mark Audess, David Hurley, and Bradley Grace were sitting talking about the homemade porno with the college dean's daughter, the sequence could have been shown as a flashback as a full scene or a teaser scene. Some of the jokes in the movie seemed a little forced as well.

Don't take this to mean that the movie was all bad, because it wasn't. I loved the concept of the movie along with the flow and the writing of much of the movie. I also loved the music by Former and Best of Seven that was in the movie and how it was used. The movie excelled with the sex scenes. Instead of following the industry standard format for sex scenes, the scenes presented here varied from just blow job or pussy eating scenes to full fledged sex scenes. As the series continues I hope that the non-standard sex scene construct continues.

Ultimately if this series is going to work, I think the writers need to get comfortable with the characters and the overall flow. I definitely wouldn't give up on it yet as I am reminded of mainstream sitcoms like The Drew Carey Show and According to Jim that I liked but also got off to rocky starts.

This edition of Inside Marie's Play Place Volume 1 is nicely presented on a DVD-R in anamorphic widescreen format, but the disc does leave a little to be desired. The picture looks good but the bit rate appears to be a little low as there are places where the picture breaks up a little displaying pixels. The sound is good too but suffers from an echo, which I think is the result of how the movie was shot not a mastering error with the DVD. There is a chapter menu with six chapters allowing for navigation. The destination of each one is identified with a still frame from the movie.

Along with the movie there are a few extras included on this release. The best is an 18 minute bonus scene featuring Marie Madison masturbating while watching Mark the Handyman fix the lights. I can see why this scene didn't appear in the final movie as I don't see where it would have fit in and would have thrown off the pacing if it had been included. It works nicely as a bonus scene though. Also included is a piece called “Next on...,” which features clips from future episodes and there are also previews of other Marie Madison Media titles.

The disc opens with “Low Down Dirty Shame,” a music video by Lucy Dark that features clips from Marie Madison Media productions and mostly appears to be an advert for Marie's Play Place. I dislike material, especially advertising material, put in before the menus, however this one can be easily skipped at least.

1. Marie Madison, Presley Scott
2. Marie Madison, Mark Audess
3. Jade Houston, Marie Madison
4. Presley Scott, Bradley Grace
5. Presley Scott, David Hurley

Marie Madison's Inside Marie's Play Place is an adult sitcom showing what goes on behind the scenes at an adult movie company. Despite being far from the best movie ever put out by Marie Madison Media, the first entry shows potential for the rest of the upcoming series.

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