Love At First Byte Review

Cast: Asia Carrera, Aurora Snow, Keri Windsor, Nikita Denise, Holly Hollywood, April, Mia Smiles, Evan Stone, Steven St. Croix, Joel Lawrence, Randy Spears and Chris Cannon in sex roles; Monique Alexander and Herschel Savage in non-sex roles.

Director: Bud Lee

Production date: 10/29/01 (box); 5/2002 (feature)

Length: 110 min.

Extras: A 21-min. interview with the director; a 13-min. behind-the-scenes featurette; five interview-style bios (Aurora, Evan, Keri, April, Mia); a 3-min. bloopers reel; a feature photo gallery with 23 images; additional bonus material including a scene, trailer and preview gallery from each of the following movies: Blue Angel, Dripping Wet Sex Vol. 1 and Naughty Bedtime Stories; and at least one Easter egg.

Audio/visual quality: The visual quality is pristine. After two viewings, I am unable to find a single blemish anywhere in the movie. The blend of wide, medium and close-up shots feels perfect. The focus stays sharp, too. The sets and props appeal to the eye, and the special effects far surpass what might be expected for an adult film.

The music is unexceptional, but reasonably pleasant. As appears to be standard for Simon Wolf features, the music plays only at the introduction of the scene and during transitions between positions. The sets are amazingly quiet, with essentially zero extraneous noise. The audio balance, clarity and volume are extremely good at all times.

Disc problems: The "pop shot" button does not display. This problem occurs on an Apple DVD Player (version 2.2.1); the studio reports that no other customers have complained about this issue.

Reviewer's caveat: As of this writing, a boycott is under way against Simon Wolf Productions. I encourage my readers to learn more about the controversy and to make informed decisions concerning the purchase of this product.

First impression: Love at First Byte is easily one of the best features I've seen this year.

Scene highlights: Aurora Snow ("Mouse") is a shy, bespectacled computer nerd who shares a home with nymphomaniacs Asia Carrera ("Jill") and Keri Windsor ("Stephanie"). Through a lot of genius and a little luck, Aurora creates the perfect male sex doll.

When we first glimpse Aurora, she's busy developing her cyber dream man on her laptop. There's a TV in the background, with Mia Smiles and Chris Cannon playing the parts of the porno couple. Mia reclines on a couch while Chris tickles her fancy with his tongue (his oral work includes finger penetration and a little rimming). She returns the favor with flirty glances during the blowjob. They enjoy three vaginal positions: missionary, spooning and doggie. Mia rewards Chris' energy and endurance with blissful smiles and a little dirty talk. Her handwork uncorks a couple of good, strong squirts for her face.

Keri plans to go to the game with Joel Lawrence ("Myles"), but an approaching thunderstorm gives her an excuse to play a different type of game. Keri stuffs a pair of boxers under the sheets to torment Joel, and when he arrives, she flashes him repeatedly in the presence of Aurora and Asia. They retreat to her bedroom, where she collects a well-deserved spanking for her naughtiness. The sex includes enthusiastic oral, a deep blowjob, three vaginal positions and a pop for her belly—all of which is carried out with great physicality, passionate kissing and a bit of light tussling.

When lightning strikes Aurora's multi-layered 3-D imager, her digital creation comes to life in the form of Evan Stone. Asia quickly volunteers to try him out. Since Evan arrived without a hard-on, Asia uses her mouth to fully activate him. She makes yummy, "shivery" sounds when he stimulates her on a leather sofa. The eye contact in missionary is pleasurably intense. The doggie position incorporates an interesting variation, where Evan gently pins Asia down with his foot. He spills his cyber spunk onto her pretty tailbone.

April, the cleaning girl, is the only one home when Randy Spears arrives to strut his stuff. Apparently one of the ladies of the house wants to hire a male stripper, and Randy provides a hilarious little audition for April. She pulls his head into her crotch, and after some endearing clumsiness, he finally manages to peel her out of skintight capris. April rubs her clit against his tongue, and they go straight to missionary on a hot pink chaise. She gives him some priceless demonstrations of proper hip gyration technique in doggie and reverse cowgirl. April is so happy with Randy's performance that she sucks him off and gives him a hand to a grand finale.

Aurora calls her friend, Steven St. Croix ("Foster"), after Evan develops a glitch and goes flaccid. Steven tells her to "come on over" to his computer lab, but he's a little preoccupied with some 3-D magic of his own. His keyboard strokes bring sex dolls Nikita Denise and Holly Hollywood to life. Nikita and Holly each take a turn at receiving oral stimulation with multiple-finger penetration. They then grind their pussies together and kiss. Holly continues to masturbate while Nikita attends to Steven's needs through deepthroating, sideways and reverse cowgirl, and anal missionary and doggie. Most of his goo goes wild (which might make sense, since his character is a geek), but Nikita manages to grab a little on her tongue.

A short plot segment reveals that Evan is not a mere toy, but rather the embodiment of a being from another dimension. He proves his love for Aurora in a closing scene that's both sweet and nasty. He warms her up with tender kisses and caresses in the subdued light of her bedroom. Evan nibbles at Aurora's inner thigh during the oral, and she gives him a noisy, slobbery and deep blowjob. They generate great heat in the vaginal positions (doggie, spooning and a wacky sideways variation of reverse pile driver), leading up to anal missionary. Aurora smiles as Evan deposits a thick load across her face and hair.

All three bonus scenes are of excellent quality. The scene from Blue Angel stars Monique DeMoan and Steven St. Croix, lasts 20 minutes and features nonconsensual voyeurism. The scene from Dripping Wet Sex Vol. 1 stars Aurora Snow and Joel Lawrence, lasts 18 minutes and emphasizes vaginal and anal gapes. The scene from Naughty Bedtime Stories stars Violet Blue and Evan Stone, lasts 23 minutes and contains a strong fantasy element. The interview bios and behind-the-scenes featurette are fun and interesting. My favorite extra, however, is the director's interview. It's the best one I've yet seen by Bud Lee, and he's achieved exactly the right mix of information and humor.

Thumbs up: Love at First Byte is a production that manages to be both hot and hip at the same time. All six sex scenes are well above average, and the overall look and sound of the movie is top-notch.

There are so many extras that they are included as a separate disc. And yet, this double DVD set actually costs less than many features of comparable worth from other studios. In terms of both quality and quantity, Love at First Byte is an outstanding value for the price.

Thumbs down: The plot loses cohesiveness in a couple places, which is something that could have been fixed with perhaps five or six lines of additional dialog. For example, there's never any explanation for the audition of the male stripper at the girls' house (though it's revealed in the director's interview that they want him for a birthday party). Also, there's quite a bit of sunlight pouring through the windows and doors during the "thunderstorm," which somehow doesn't look quite right.

The fact that I can't find anything more substantial to pick on is a good indicator of the quality of this movie.

Themes: Straight, lesbian, threeway, masturbation, oral, deepthroating, anal, rimming (male to female), spanking, tribadism, exhibitionism, voyeurism, facials.

Condom use: Yes, except for scenes one (Mia/Chris, who are a real life couple) and five (Nikita/Steven).

Juice-o-meter: High.

Final analysis: Love at First Byte is a truly excellent modern couples' feature. The sex is strong, the technical qualities are superior, the extras are first-class and the special effects are gorgeous.

YogaGrrl's e-mail is here.
YogaGrrl's DVD review list is here.
Special thanks to astroknight, reviewer extraordinaire, for his screenshots. Read his review of Love at First Byte here.