Nina Hartley's Guide To Foreplay Review

Running Time: 78 min.

Production Date: Jan. 1997

Director: Nina Hartley

Cast: Nina Hartley, Missy, Midori, Mickey G., and Michael

Initial Expectations: I’ve had mixed results out of this series, so I’m keeping an open mind.

Initial Reaction: It’s very basic, but pretty well done.

Audio /Video Quality: The audio is a bit on the soft side, but normally is easy to understand. The video leaves more than a bit to be desired. It’s normally very grainy, although it is also normally fairly well lit.

Music: None during the educational portion, but there’s some nice slow and sexy jazz during the fantasy section that’s a bit on the loud side.

Menus: The main menu is simple and without any animation. The chapter menu is a bit better, and lets you choose a scene based on a small clip of the scene and a title for it.

The Feature: Nina Hartley has been one of the standards of the adult film industry for almost twenty years, becoming one of the most recognizable female adult film stars out there. Here, she passes on some of what she’s learned sexually through the years with the help of a few of her friends. She discusses and demonstrates foreplay techniques for both men and women, and then finishes things up with a fantasy sex scene.

Nina starts out demonstrating heavy petting techniques with Midori and her partner Michael. Nina takes charge of the situation demonstrating a few techniques while explaining what she’s doing and why as Midori sits back and enjoys and Michael throws in a helping comment here and there. Nina works Midori over until she has a rocking orgasm, and then discusses the methods and orgasms with Midori and Michael.

The section with Midori and Michael is very soft and gentle, and more than anything acts as a way to show you how to initially touch your lover. It’s extremely basic, and gives me the feel it’s designed for the lover who’s completely clueless or the virgin who got chicken pox during sex ed in high school. That’s not to say that there’s nothing new here, as any person who wants to be a better lover should always be willing to try something new, but it is extremely basic.

In the second section of the feature, Nina demonstrates foreplay on a man, namely Mickey G., with the help of Missy. The girls start out gently caressing Mickey before Missy goes down on him while Nina talks. They finish him up quickly trading back and forth.

This section really disappointed me as all it really said was “talk to your man, stroke him, and suck him”. Granted, this will work for basically any guy out there whether he’s straight or gay, but is way too limited. No, I didn’t expect Nina to go into anything to do with male anal stimulation, but there’s not even any attention given to Mickey’s nipples, let along anything like “try and nibble him here”. I can honestly say that I didn’t get a single thing out of this portion of the feature.

Finally, there’s a couple fantasy scenes. Missy starts out the first one covered with a large veil, which is removed so she can be caressed and sucked. It’s slow and easy, and very artistic and romantic. It’s also borderline boring.

The second fantasy scene works around Mickey and Nina coming home after a date night, feeling a little frisky, and getting turned on in the garage since the babysitter is still inside. It’s a great setup, and great to see somebody pointing out that sex and romance don’t die between two people once they’re married, and doesn’t always involve the babysitter either. Although very light, it’s also a great scene because it shows both Nina and Mickey having a great time and talking and laughing rather than just fucking like bunnies on the hood of the car. Instead they work each other over until they each have an orgasm without ever bumping uglies. They even involve a flower in their play. It’s a great little scene, and perfect for the feature.

Nina Hartley’s Guide to Foreplay is a decent educational feature. It seems aimed at the completely clueless, and does a great job of presenting things in a soft and non-threatening way. It also adds a few little things that more experienced lovers might not have tried yet. Nina looks fabulous and comes off as extremely friendly as well as very knowledgeable. The sex scenes are also soft and gentle, and feel like they might ease unsure couples into porn a bit. I’m not sure how much replay value this one will have, but if you’re completely clueless about where to start with your partner, you can do a heck of a lot worse than checking out Nina Hartley’s Guide to Foreplay.

For other perspectives on this DVD, please check out reviews from Trunks and reviewer.

Extras: Nina’s biography and website information.

Themes: Straight, educational, lesbian, toys, group, straight, foreplay, and oral

Raincoat Factor: Medium low

Overall: Currently, most of the Nina Harttley’s Guide to series can be found online for between about $12 and $20 with many stores offering them for under $15. I’m not sure how much replay value this one will have, so I wouldn’t pay more than the minimum here and would strongly consider renting it instead. The subject is very basic, but presented well. The technical aspects are also a bit weak and there aren’t any extras.

Note to Adam & Eve: A little effort into improving the video quality would go a long way.

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

Other reviews by Astroknight