Sex & Romance (Wicked) Review

Reviewed by astroknight  on  2/14/2004

The Little Details

Running Time: 83 min.

Production Date: 7 / 21 / 2003

Director: Jim Enright

Cast: Jessica Drake, Brad Armstrong, Wendy Divine, Paulina ,Victoria Givens, Evan Stone, Steven St. Croix, John West, and Eric Masterson

The Short Story

Initial Expectations: Hmmmm. I’m not sure why, but I just can’t get my expectations up too high for this one even though it has an excellent female cast.

Initial Reaction: It’s pretty good, but nothing you haven’t seen before.

Who Should Watch It : Anybody wanting a light and fun adult movie to watch with that special someone

Who Should Avoid It: Anybody wanting a heavy plot or a little nastier sex

The Technical Stuff

Audio /Video Quality: The technical aspects are right up to Wicked’s normal high quality. The audio is clear and well balanced, and completely free of any kind of background noise. The video is just as good. There’s almost a hint of grain, and the few shadows which do occur feel very natural.

Music: The music is excellent! It’s nicely balanced and the style varies to fit the mood of the scene. It hit romantic and playful, as well as everywhere else that it should in the movie. The music in Sex & Romance definitely kicks the sex up a notch!

Menus: The menus are pretty good. The main menu nicely builds on the boxcover, while the chapter menu lets you choose a scene based on a small clip of each scene and a chapter number.

The Feature

Jessica Drake has made a very good living writing about sex and romance, and has found plenty of it in her life. When she isn’t putting her fantasies on paper, she’s often getting it on with Brad Armstrong, gardener Steven St. Croix, or any other man she feels like, using them as she wants and then pushing them away. The only thing that might wake her up is being pushed away herself.

Scene 1 - Victoria Givens and Evan Stone

As part of the cheesy and smutty romance novel Jessica is making, Victoria and Evan get it on after she seduces him from her bubble bath. He hops in the tub with her before letting her suck his cock and balls. Victoria lets him go down on her with his tongue and fingers in return before laying back for Evan to fuck her missionary style. They also go at it doggie style before Evan gives Victoria a nice facial. She takes it with glee and deep throats him to get every last drop out.

This is a pretty good scene. Victoria seems to be really into Evan, but he doesn’t seem to be into him quite as much. I’m not sure if this is a first time situation where they just met thirty seconds before going in front of the camera, but the chemistry seemed a little off here. Even though the chemistry seems a little off, Victoria does a very nice job here. She puts plenty of energy into her performance and seems to love watching Evan’s cock fuck her. The other problem is that the camera work was just a little too close for me. When somebody’s head can’t fit the screen when it’s on, you’re too close! It’s still a decent scene, but it could have been a bit better.

Scene 2 - Jessica Drake and Brad Armstrong

When Jessica takes a break for a drink she help but rub the ice across her hot body. Brad finds her trying to cool off and is more than happy to share her ice, as well as her hot body. He kisses and gropes his way across her body, and even gets a fresh ice cube or two to help take care of Jessica. They keep the oral love going, with both a blowjob for Brad and a little twat tonguing and ice play for Jessica , before Brad gives it to her from behind. He also gives it to her missionary style before feeding her a nice helping of man chowder.

This is a very nice scene! The camera work is a little better focused than in the opening scene, and it captures Brad and Jessica very well. More importantly, they look like they’re having a lot of fun. There’s plenty of smiles, and they go all the way to their eyes rather than stopping at their mouths. My only complaint here is that some of the footage looks like it might have been repeated a couple times. Despite that, this is a very nice scene.

Scene 3 - Wendy Divine and Eric Masterson

When Jessica orders a meal for Wendy, namely waiter Eric, she relaxes and enjoys the show while enjoying a glass of wine. After an almost nonexistent protest, Wendy immediately goes to work on Eric’s cock orally before climbing up to ride it in the cameraman favorite reverse cowgirl. Eric gives Wendy a little oral action before boning her from behind and spooning her. Finally, Wendy opens wide and takes a very impressive pop from Eric in it without so much as blinking an eye. Even more amazing, is that Eric actually proves that some guys in porn have actual aim, and hits her mouth rather than smearing it across both eyes.

This is another fun scene. As always, Wendy looks great and turns out a very nice scene. She and Eric are married in real life, and you get some of the chemistry you’d hope for from real life couples. There’s nothing that really stands out about this scene to me, but it just has a very nice feel to it.

Scene 4 - Wendy Divine and John West

After getting home from meeting with Jessica, Wendy gets it on with movie-hubby John. She mouths his manhood as soon as their clothes magically disappear before hopping up for another reverse cowgirl ride to show that sometimes life imitates fantasy. They keep things going through doggie and missionary before Wendy shows once again that she can take a facial as well as anybody! Unfortunately, John doesn’t give her much to work with.

Wendy does a very nice job once again. She and John both look like they’re having a very good time, and the chemistry is good enough to feel like they’re the husband and wife they’re playing in the scene. The energy is very nice, and once again Wendy lets loose with a few smiles. This is another very nice scene.

Scene 5 - Victoria Givens and Paulina

After arguing and declaring Victoria her mortal enemy, Paulina gets it on with Victoria. She lays back on the desk for Victoria to tongue her holes and finger her pussy. Paulina returns the favor and gets Victoria to squirt a few times. Finally the scene fades out, not feeling like it’s close to done.

This is an okay at best scene. Victoria does a very good job once again, but Paulina seems to be there for the check. I don’t know if she was that afraid of Victoria’s juicy fruit, but she just didn’t seem to be into it that much. The only thing that kept me awake here was

Scene 6 - Jessica Drake and Steven St. Croix

Finally, Jessica seduces Steven the gardener. She gets on her knees to take all of him in her mouth before climbing up to ride him cowgirl style. They keep things going through a couple other common positions until Steven stands up and sprays his seed across Jessica’s jugs.

This is another pretty good scene. Jessica really looks to be enjoying herself, and puts some great energy into the scene. Like many of the other scenes here, there’s nothing to really make this scene extra special, but it is nicely done.

Sex & Romance is an okay feature. The story is very loose, and basically just acts as a format to give people an excuse to fuck. The sex is good, but never really stands out in any way. I think the only thing that really stood out for me in the movie was that it had two scenes each from Jessica Drake, Wendy Divine, and Victoria Givens. I fully expected this from Jessica, but it’s great to see girls like Wendy, who constantly has me scratching my head as to why she’s not in more movies, and Victoria, who’s also really impressed me, get that kind of attention. There’s decent chemistry and nice energy in almost every scene, but the camera work held it back from getting too good. It favored a lot of closeups and pans rather than trying to frame the performers on the screen, and now and then had a hard time holding my attention because of it. Things like this made Sex & Romance feel like it was made about a decade too late. It’s a decent movie, but nothing to run out and pick up without making sure you look both ways to cross the street a few times.

The Extra Stuff

The photo gallery from the movie lasts over three and a half minutes with about six seconds per good looking snapshot or full screen photo. Jessica Drake, Paulina, Victoria Givens, and Wendy Divine also get a two minute long star gallery. Star stats with a little personal information, a link to the star’s scene, and a few photos of the star are included for Jessica Drake, Paulina, Victoria Givens, Wendy Divine, Brad Armstrong, Evan Stone, and Steven St. Croix. There’s also trailers for XXX Training, Heat, Hercules, Falling From Grace, and Bordello Blues. There’s also promotional materials, DVD-ROM stuff, and a commercial for the Free Speech Coalition.

All Access: The Making of Sex & Romance lasts twelve minutes. Sadly, this is perhaps the worst behind the scenes feature I’ve watched from Wicked in years. Normally you get some very nice interviews with the cast and a bit of screwing around on the set. Wicked’s All Access features are normally fun to watch and give you virtually everything you could hope for in a behind the scenes featurette. None of that is on display here. Instead you get a few clips of the movie and a little bit of the photo gallery and the sex scenes with music covering up everything except the audio from the movie in those portions. The only thing that’s really done well in this featurette is the cast identification. If you miss this featurette, you’re not missing much.

The Down -n- Dirty Sex Stuff

Themes: Straight, masturbation, spanking, lesbian, and rimming (female > female)

Raincoat Factor: Medium

Condom Usage: 100%

The Bottom Line:

Currently, many of Wicked’s DVDs can be found online for between $15 and $30 with many stores offering them for around $21. Rent this one before you buy it as I’m not sure how much replay value it’s going to have. The technical aspects are very nicely done and there’s some decent extras. This is a nicely done DVD of a decent movie.

Note to Wicked Pictures: It’s great to see you going so far beyond your stable of contract girls (even though the contract girls are excellent). I hope you reach out like this in the future a little more often.

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

Other reviews by Astroknight