Nina Hartley's Making Love to Men Review

Reviewed by astroknight  on  2/9/2005

The Little Details

Running Time: 99 min.

Production Date: 11 / 06 / 1999

Director: Nina Hartley

Cast: Nina Hartley, Kaylynn, Justin Romee, and Herschel Savage in major sexual roles and Dayton Rains and Ian Daniels in a background sex scene

The Short Story

Initial Expectations: Nina’s instructional movies have been kind of hit or miss for me. I’m not quite sure what to expect here.

Initial Reaction: It starts off very strong, but sadly gets a bit weaker as it goes on.

Who Should Watch It : Anybody looking for tips on better lovemaking

Who Should Avoid It: Anybody who just wants straight fucking without any talking

The Technical Stuff

Audio /Video Quality: The technical aspects are pretty good for the age of the feature and the DVD. The audio is pretty clear and well balanced, although it does have a few soft spots. The video is also pretty good. It’s not much better than I’d expect from a VHS tape, but it’s nicely lit and very even looking throughout the entire feature.

Music: There’s some decent fuck music going throughout the action that works pretty well. It fits the scenes and is balanced pretty well with the audio.

Borderline False Advertising: Dayton Rains and Ian Daniels are both listed on the cover, but never really take part in the movie. Their role is limited to a scene that plays in the background. Technically they are in the movie, but if I picked it up for either of them I’d be really pissed off. Thankfully this style of advertising doesn’t happen often with Adam & Eve, but it does here.

Menus: The menus are pretty basic. The main menu gives you a still and the choices while the chapter menu lets you choose a scene based on a title for each scene and a clip of the scene.

The Feature

After years in the adult industry, Nina Hartley decided to put her knowledge to use in helping others sexually in a series of educational movies. Needless to say, here she focuses on pleasing men. Nina starts out talking about some of the myths about men and sexuality as well as some of the realities. She moves back to introduce Herschel while talking about how men like being teased as well. From there, she moves into the demonstrations, stopping now and then to add a few tips. As she talks, a movie with Ian and Dayton plays in the background.

Scene 1 - Nina Hartley and Herschel Savage

Nina and Herschel start out with some soft kissing and necking while rolling around on the bed. She teases his cock before giving him a handjob while giving a few tips and showing a few little variations. She moves on to talk about condoms, including a few tips, before sliding it onto Herschel with her hands and mouth. She climbs up to ride Herschel cowgirl style before letting him roll her onto her back while he continues to fuck and kiss her. She takes off the condom and has Herschel lay back so she can work him over with her hands and mouth until he pops in the air.

This is a great opening sequence. Nina does a great job talking her way through the sequences, and makes everything seem very natural and very sexy. The scene lasts over fifty minutes, yet it never gets old or slow. Instead it captures the magic of sex in a very helpful way. This is a fantastic starting point for making love to men.

Scene 2 - Nina Hartley and Herschel Savage

This is one of Nina’s fantasy scenes, and starts out with Herschel arriving home after delivering their kids. They play around while stripping down, and Nina moves onto Herschel to grind against his cock before sitting on his face. She moves back down to suck and stroke his cock before sliding a little protection onto his cock. Nina lets Herschel bone her missionary style before turning around so he can fuck her doggie style. It’s hard to tell whether they fake a internal pop or not, but it quickly moves into the next scene.

This is another nice sequence. It’s much shorter than the previous one, but maintains all of the chemistry of the initial scene. I love that it shows that passionate sex can still exist within marriage, and although the scene doesn’t work as well as the previous scene, it’s still pretty good.

Scene 3 - Kaylynn, Justine Romee, Nina Hartley and Herschel Savage

Nina and Herschel move to a hot tub next as Justine and Kaylynn put a show on outside the tub. Nina strokes Herschel as they watch the girls strip each other down and explore each other. The girls play with each other briefly before they join Herschel and Nina in the tub, with Justine making her way to kiss her way around Herschel while Nina gets the pleasure of Kaylynn’s great tongue. The girls all team up to pleasure Herschel orally before Nina lets Kaylynn climb out of the tub to ride Herschel cowgirl style while Nina and Justine add a little oral pleasure among themselves as well as for Herschel and Kaylynn. Justine gets her turn next while the girls play in the tub. Kaylynn and Nina come out to help take care of Herschel as Justine turns around riding his cock. Finally, the girls hold roses out to Herschel and let him stroke himself onto them.

This is a pretty good scene that just seems wrong. There’s nice chemistry through the scene, but the camera work seems a little soft and weak. The main problem for me is that I think the movie is geared mostly to women and couples, and this scene isn’t. Yes, it’s soft and kind of artistic, but if somebody’s unsure enough about sex to pick up a movie like this then I wouldn’t think they’d be into things as wild as group sex. It’s a decent scene, it just seems wrong here.

Nina Hartley’s Making Love to Men is a pretty good instructional video. It starts out extremely well with Nina giving some nice tips while she and Herschel take their time through a passionate sex scene. Unfortunately, the rest of the movie can’t keep up. The second scene is okay, but has a weak ending. Although the group scene that finishes the movie up is a decent scene, it seems to love focus a bit. Yes, it’s about Herschel getting pleasured, but the action seems to be as much about Nina as it is about Herschel. I also think it hurts the feature a little because this is a title that’s strongly geared to couples, and especially the female side of couples. Closing the movie with a scene that has a lot of lesbian action seems like it could turn off many of the women who might be checking out the movie. Nina Hartley’s Making Love to Men is a great idea and has some great tips. Unfortunately, once the educational part of the movie is done it slides downhill.

The Extra Stuff

The only extra is a bio for Nina. It’s fairly interesting, but there’s nothing too new.

The Down -n- Dirty Sex Stuff

Themes: Straight, educational, handjobs, voyeurism, lesbian, tease, and group

Raincoat Factor: Surprisingly high

Condom Usage: 100%

The Bottom Line:

Currently, many of Nina Hartley’s educational DVDs can be found online for between about $8 and $25 with several stores offering them for around $15. At that price this one’s well worth checking out. There’s plenty of nice little tips, and the opening scene with the instruction is fantastic. The technical aspects show a little age, and sadly there’s not really any effort put into the extras.

Note to Adam & Eve: It’s great to see all the support you’ve given Nina over the years! Thank you.

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

Other reviews by Astroknight