American Beauty (1999)

Sam Mendes' Best Picture R-rated winning film was his feature film debut, a satirical and extremely dark comedy/drama about the emptiness of suburban life and a family's meltdown, and the last remaining year in the life of a husband in the midst of a mid-life crisis, experiencing both a spiritual awakening and a mental collapse. The major characters in the superb ensemble cast were:

• Lester Burnham (Oscar-winning Kevin Spacey), a cynical, suburban dwelling husband with a meaningless life, job (advertising executive), and existence
• Carolyn (Annette Bening), his judgmental, shrill and materialistic frigid wife, an emotionally-frayed yet falsely perky real estate agent, with color-coordinated gardening shears and clogs while snipping at roses ("american beauties")
• Jane (Thora Birch), their glum, moody, but smart and uncommunicative daughter

Lester's highlight of the day, described in his opening voice-over (that prophetically revealed his own death), was masturbating in the shower: (""My name is Lester Burnham. This is my neighborhood. This is my street. This is my life. I am 42 years old. In less than a year, I will be dead. Of course, I don't know that yet, and in a way, I'm dead already. Look at me, jerking off in the shower. This will be the high point of my day. It's all downhill from here. That's my wife Carolyn. See the way the handle on those pruning shears match her gardening clogs? That's not an accident. That's our neighbor, Jim, and that's his lover, Jim...Man, I get exhausted just watching her. She wasn't always like this. She used to be happy. We used to be happy. My daughter, Jane. Only child. Janie's a pretty typical teenager - angry, insecure, confused. I wish I could tell her that's all going to pass, but I don't want to lie to her...Both my wife and daughter think I'm this gigantic loser. And they're right. I have lost something. I'm not exactly sure what it is, but I know I didn't always feel this -- sedated. But you know what? It's never too late to get it back").

In the midst of a mid-life crisis in his manicured suburbia home, Lester was experiencing a breakdown (male powerlessness or castration, similar to the cut off roses) - he impulsively quit his job, bought a vintage car, and began lifting weights (stripped down) and smoking pot, while Jane was beginning a love affair with her next-door videographer neighbor, pot-selling Ricky Fitts (Wes Bentley). (She intentionally showed herself topless to voyeuristic Ricky, at one point in the film.)

Ricky was abused by his angry, Nazi-loving, paranoid and homophobic Marine officer father Col. Frank Fitts (Chris Cooper), who feared that his son was gay. Meanwhile, Carolyn was engaged in an affair with self-dubbed "King" of Real Estate Buddy Kane (Peter Gallagher).

Bored, frustrated, rebellious, feeling "sedated" and intolerant of life as it was, Lester was brought back to life by his lustful fantasizing over seductive, teenaged blonde nymphet cheerleader Angela (Mena Suvari), his daughter Jane's sexpot friend and a wannabe model. When the Lolita-esque female opened her team jacket during a basketball game to reveal her breasts, in his fantasy mind she let loose a cascade of red rose petals.

The Red Rose Petals Theme

Also he envisioned her lying in a bed of rose petals and coyly beckoning him to deflower her, and fantasized touching her between her legs as she soaked in a rose-filled bath tub.

The vulnerable, seemingly-slutty and surprisingly virginal Angela was seduced by Lester when she stretched back on the living room couch, and he removed her pants, and then opened her blouse. He paused and then appropriately declined and called off having sex when she confessed: "This is my first time...I'm sorry. I still want to do it."

Aborted Seduction Scene with Angela ("...This is my first time"))

Shortly later, latent homosexual Col. Fitts put a gun to Lester's head. Earlier, he had misunderstood and thought that Lester was gay when he thought he had witnessed his son Ricky performing oral sex on Lester. The Colonel confronted Lester in his open garage during a rainstorm and kissed him. Lester rebuffed him: "I'm sorry. Y-You got the wrong idea."

Lester was murdered - not by his real estate agent wife Carolyn (who at the same time removed a gun out of the car's glove box and said to herself: "Lester, I refuse to be a victim") - but by his shamed and latent homosexual neighbor, retired Marine Col. Frank Fitts. Despite his death, Lester expressed his redemptive, enlightened feelings of "gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life" - as the video of the white plastic bag randomly whirled about in the wind. He had found the beauty he was looking for - but only at the moment of his death. A birds-eye flying aerial view of the neighborhood was zoomed backwards toward the sky as the voice-over concluded.

American Pie (1999)

Director Paul Weitz's wildly popular, humorous and raucous teen-sex comedy (with the slogan: "You never forget your first slice!") was typical of the late 90s and brought back raunch to this genre of comedy film, with numerous shocking and squirm-inducing scenes. The film's title was derived from the question: "What exactly does third base feel like?" and the answer: "Like warm apple pie." It was an extreme 'guilty pleasure' film about losing one's virginity by prom night.

It took three rounds of censorship cuts to satisfy an R-rating. The film was available in a theatrical R-rated version and in an "Unrated version" - The Version You Couldn't See in Theatres - for the home video and DVD markets with additional footage -- a burgeoning marketing trend.

[Note: The many official (and unofficial) sequels, with some of the same cast of libidinous high-schoolers, included:

American Pie (1999), d. Paul Weitz
American Pie 2 (2001), d. J. B. Rogers
American Wedding (2003) (aka American Pie 3), d. Jesse Dylan
American Pie Presents: Band Camp (2005), d. Steve Rash, straight-to-DVD release
American Pie Presents: The Naked Mile (2006), d. Joe Nussbaum, straight-to-DVD release
American Pie Presents: Beta House (2007), d. Andrew Waller, straight-to-DVD release
American Pie Presents: The Book of Love (2009), d. John Putch, straight-to-DVD release
American Reunion (2012), d. Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg]

In the opening scene in his bedroom, sex-obsessed, awkward, coming-of-age, horny high-school senior Jim Levenstein (Jason Biggs) was masturbating himself with a long athletic tube sock while watching scrambled porn on pay-TV, but was caught by both of his parents, who were shocked by the dialogue they were hearing from the TV: "Baby! Ride me like a pony!" and "Oh, spank my hairy ass!" He was extremely embarrassed and upset by his invasion of privacy.

At his East Great Falls High School (fictional) in West Michigan, and at high school get-togethers or parties, the socially-awkward, sex-obsessed, nerdy and naive Jim interacted with many of his seemingly-more successful male friends with the opposite sex, including lacrosse team player Chris "Oz" Ostreicher (Chris Klein), charming and handsome Kevin Myers (Thomas Ian Nicholas), and coffee-loving sophisticate Paul Finch (Eddie Kay Thomas).

Jim Levenstein (Jason Biggs)	Chris "Oz" Ostreicher (Chris Klein)
Kevin Myers (Thomas Ian Nicholas)	Paul Finch (Eddie Kay Thomas)

Unlike them, however, one of their friends, arrogant ladies' man and lacrosse jock Steve Stifler (Seann William Scott), had already lost his virginity and often hosted drinking parties at his house. While attending the party, the foursome failed in their attempts to fully score with the females. However, Stifler was about to succeed and make out with sophomore chick Sarah (Eden Riegel) - she was reluctant to have sex, telling him: "You know what? I don't know if I want to be doing this....You know, like, if we hook up tonight, tomorrow I'll just be some girl you go tellin' all your friends about"; in the shocking and squirm-inducing scene, Stifler chugged down a cup of brew, not knowing that it was mixed with sperm deposited there earlier by Kevin who had orgasmed into the cup after oral sex with his coed-girlfriend Vicky (Tara Reid). Shortly later, Stifler embarrassingly vomited up the entire contents of his stomach onto his female conquest (off-screen) - in the next scene, she screamed and fled down the stairs and out of the house with stained clothes.

Kevin felt especially deprived and sexually-inadequate when he was abruptly dumped at the party by his long-time girlfriend Vicky after she heard him complaining to Jim about her poor fellatio technique. Soon after, the foursome agreed on a pact to get laid within three weeks, before the school prom and graduation.

Furthermore, Jim's well-meaning father (Eugene Levy) decided to have an awkward sex-education session with his son by offering a selection of dirty magazines and instructed him to go to the center section: "Well, you see the detail that, uh, that they go into in this picture here.... It almost looks like a tropical plant or something, underwater - thing"; his father also asked: "Do you know what a clitoris is?"

Meanwhile, Kevin atttempted to restore his broken relationship with ex-girlfriend Vicky. During their time together, she had never experienced an orgasm with him and the two remained virginal; to win her back, Kevin received advice from his older brother Tom (Casey Affleck) from a compiled "Bible" in the library with students' sexual tips, and from Vicky's best friend Jessica (Natasha Lyonne); she had urged him to practice up and concentrate on his oral sex skills with her.

The most notorious scene came soon after, when the extremely horny Levenstein experimented with the feel of "third base" that felt like warm, freshly-baked apple pie, according to his friend Oz. When he discovered hot apple pie on the kitchen counter island in his kitchen after school, he stuck two fingers in and stroked the hot pie - and then paused for a moment, before pumping the family's pie just out of the oven (viewed from behind, his bare buttocks thrust into the pie in a missionary position); his stunned dad entered the kitchen and was shocked: (Dad: "Jim?!" Jim: "It's not what it looks like"); the two agreed not to tell Jim's mother about the embarrassing situation by covering up the damage with an excuse as a solution: "Well, we'll just tell your mother that uh, that uh, we ate it all."

Experimentation with Apple Pie

Kevin's research at the library proved to be invaluable - especially a page with illustrations labeled "The Tongue Tornado." During his next sexual encounter with Vicky in her bedroom (with the manual at the foot of the bed to assist), he proved his skilled prowess while delivering oral sex to her - as she loudly yelled out: "I'm coming!" while her clueless father stood outside her door, shrugged his shoulders, and then continued downstairs.

Slightly later, Jim's father had another frank session about masturbation: "Jim, I want to talk about masturbation. Now, I just want you to know that it's - it's a perfectly normal, uh, thing. And I have to admit, uh, you know. I, uh, did a fair bit of masturbating when I was a little younger. I, uh, I used to call it 'stroking the salami'. Yeah, you know, 'pounding the ol' pud.' I never did it with baked goods, uh, but you know your Uncle Mort? He pets 'the one-eyed snake' five, six times a day. See, it's like, uh, practice for the big game. You see? And it's like, it's like, uh, banging a tennis ball against a brick wall, which can be fun. It can be fun, but it's not a game...What you want is, you want a partner to return the ball."

In the film's wildly-publicized centerpiece sequence, Jim had become acquainted with frisky, busty foreign Czech exchange student Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth), who had asked to be his study partner, and change her clothes at his house after ballet practice. With his buddies, Jim set up an online voyeuristic experience, to spy on Nadia in his bedroom - viewed through a hidden video-camera web-cam at his friend Kevin's home across the street (with Finch and Jim). Jim rushed over to join his friends to watch Nadia's strip show after arriving and relaxing in Jim's bedroom. Observing everything through the Internet, Paul commented: "God bless the Internet." Nadia was spied upon undressing, lying on Jim's bed topless, and viewing his girlie magazines - and pleasurably masturbating. Jim decided to rush back home to be with Nadia - in person.

After Jim entered his own bedroom, he was welcomed by Nadia in bed. To the beat of music, Jim slowly and clumsily stripped down to his boxers, humped a chair, and then joined the welcoming Nadia in bed who was prepared to have sex with him. But then he prematurely ejaculated twice when she stroked his leg and then removed her panties - disappointing her. Jim didn't know that the web-cam was accidentally broadcasting everything to the entire school body. He became completely humiliated when he realized that his failed escapades had been widely distributed and seen. After the scandalous incident, Nadia was sent home by her sponsors the next day, and Jim became a laughing stock at school.

"God Bless the Internet"

Later, Jim was able to soon hook up with unpopular band camp geek Michelle Flaherty (Alyson Hannigan) and asked her to be his prom date; fortunately, she claimed (although falsely) that she knew nothing about the web-cam incident.

A personal rivalry developed between Steve Stifler and Finch who had always had a reputation for tremendous sexual virility. However, Kevin discovered that Finch had manipulately paid Vicky's friend Jessica $200 to spread false rumors about him to bolster his masculinity. To put him in his place and embarrass him, Stifler spiked Finch's mochaccino drink with Pentalax and in the girls' restroom, Finch suffered a tremendous bout of diarrhea - and tremendous humiliation. By the time of prom night, he was dateless.

After the uneventful prom, where it appeared that none of the four guys was scoring to win their pact, the foursome attended Stifler's post-prom after-party at his Lake Michigan mansion.

At the after-prom party, all four of the males in the pact succeeded in losing their virginity one way or another:

• Kevin (with Vicky) consummated their love for each other in an upstairs bedroom, although they would soon go their separate ways to different schools after graduation, Ann Arbor and Ithaca
• Oz (with fellow choir member Heather (Mena Suvari)) announced he had renounced the pact, and then they declared their genuine love for each other before cuddling romantically dockside
• Jim (with Michelle) listened as she admitted that she was openly-sexual and orgasmic, especially after band camp: "This one time, at band camp, I stuck a flute in my pussy...What? You don't think I know how to get myself off? Hell, that's what half of band camp is -- Sex Ed. So are we gonna screw soon, 'cause I'm gettin' kinda antsy"; dominating him, she aggressively propositioned him to have sex ("Say my name, what's my name, bitch?"), and coerced him into wearing two condoms to desensitize him: "I don't want you coming so damn early this time...Come on. I saw you on the 'Net. Why do you think I accepted this date? You're a sure thing"; by the next morning, she had obviously 'used' and then abandoned him ("She's gone. Oh my God, she used me. I was used. Cool!"
• Finch (with Stifler's much older mother Jeanine (Jennifer Coolidge)) - he seduced her to the tune of The Graduate's theme song - "Mrs. Robinson" - Finch: "So, uh, would you object if I said that you were quite striking?" Jeanine: "Mr. Finch, are you trying to seduce me?" Finch: "Yes, ma'am, I am." (She dragged him over to the basement pool table for sex - occurring off-screen); she complimented him, calling him "Finchy": "I had no idea you'd be this good." He surprised himself: "Neither did I."

Finch at Stifler's After-Party With Stifler's Mom Jeanine

Stifler's Mom Ready to Be Seduced by Finch

Audition (1999, Jp.) (aka Ôdishon)

Director Takashi Miike's horrific romantic drama was a metaphoric, satirical commentary upon Japanese men's sexist attitudes towards women and relationships (and their misogynistic fear of deadly women), usually treating them as objects.

Middle-aged, sad and lonely widower and movie producer-filmmaker Shigeharu Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi), seven years after his wife's death, was urged by his teenaged son to remarry. Aoyama subjected potential 'perfect' brides-to-be to a rigorous casting-call "audition" - a match-making process to select a partner to help him overcome loneliness and find love. The wannabe actresses thought, however, that they were auditioning for a movie.

He selected the final candidate when he became smitten by the seemingly-demure, polite, virginal and dutifully-humble 24 year-old Asami Yamazaki (fashion model Eihi Shiina in her debut role), described as "beautiful, classy, obedient." She was a soft-spoken ballet dancer whose career had been sidelined by a hip injury - and she had a long history of abuse by her step-father.

Although all her references on her resume were fake, Aoyama finally called Asami, who had been sitting tensely by her phone for some time. After a brief night together during a weekend, she disappeared when she discovered that the audition was fake. She came back, illustrated in a series of flashbacks and dream sequences, to exact painful and sadistic, torture and dismemberment revenge on him (while wearing black rubber gloves).

She drugged and temporarily paralyzed him (with a syringe), and then terrorized him with acupuncture needles (stuck into his eyelids) and razor-sharp piano wire (used to amputate or wire-saw off his left foot) to the sound of a Japanese bird: ("Kiri kiri kiri kiri kiri..." or "Deeper, deeper, deeper..."). She made him eat a diet of her vomit fed in a bowl. It was unclear how much of his torment was within his own imagination.

Asami herself broke her neck (and became paralyzed from the neck down) after being kicked down stairs by the widower's son during a struggle.

Black and White (1999) (aka Black & White)

Writer/director James Toback's independent urban drama was about white upper-class teens emulating and exploring the New York hip-hop music scene. Its tagline was:

"Black and white: what happens when you mix it up?"

The film - filled with profanity and sexual encounters - was originally rated NC-17 before re-editing.

The MPAA ratings board specifically objected to the opening scene filmed outdoors in Central Park in which an inter-racial menage a trois sandwiched three people together as they made love while standing up (and partially clothed) against a tree:

• Kim (Kim Matulova), a classmate - in front
• Charlie (Bijou Phillips), a blonde, plaid-skirted skinny high-schooler - in the middle
• Rich (Oliver "Power" Grant), a black New York gangster/rapper

A second instance of a threesome involved a white male and two black females (Sabine Lamy and Michelle Dent).

Body Shots (1999)

Director Michael Cristofer's and New Line Cinema's edgy and grim date-rape film was filled with strong sexual content including graphic sex-related dialogue (including a detailed discussion of oral sex), language, violence and scenes of alcohol abuse.

The controversial film, available as R-rated and in a lengthier unrated version, was criticized as being exceptionally vulgar and crudely-made.

After an evening of LA nightlife by eight self-obsessed 20-something Generation X-ers (4 males/4 females), Sara Olswang (Tara Reid) claimed she had allegedly been raped by brutish football star Michael Penorisi (Jerry O'Connell).

Different Versions of the Sexual Encounter
The Consensual Sex Version
The Rape Version

The film followed the events of the previous evening - dubiously imitating classic films such as Rashomon and Citizen Kane for the 'he said/she said' flashback portions of the film. Both Michael and Sara provided their own versions of the 'horizontal shuffle' or 'rape'. He argued: "She wanted me. I wanted her." There were other non-traditional techniques, such as characters directly addressing the camera with banal conversations.

Boys Don't Cry (1999)

Director Kimberly Peirce's feature film debut, an Academy Award-winning film, was a psychological docudrama based on a true story about a 20 year-old small-town Nebraska boy trapped in a girl's body - transgendered, female-born Teena Brandon (Hilary Swank in a Best Actress Oscar-winning role). Its tagline was: "A true story about finding the courage to be yourself." The film was based upon the real-life story of trans-female to male Brandon Teena who at the age of 21 was the victim of a hate crime - she was gang raped and murdered by male acquaintances.

It was originally slapped with an NC-17 rating by the MPAA, in part for the intensely brutal rape scene. Distributor Fox Searchlight demanded and forced cuts (in the sex and rape scenes) to bring the film down to an R-rating. The film ran into ratings issues with the homophobic MPAA when it was criticized for three sexual issues: an explicit lesbian oral sex scene, Lana's lengthy, pleasurable and satisfying female orgasm, and the revelatory disrobing scene of Teena before she was anally raped over a car.

In the town of Falls City, NB, real-life 20 year old, small town dweller Teena (Hilary Swank) 'masqueraded' as a boy (male Brandon Teena) when trapped in a girl's body while suffering ostracizing by 'her' family, a confused "sexual identity crisis" and a long-awaited sex-change operation. Her cross-dressing routine involved taping down her breasts with gauzy tension bandages, stuffing her crotch with a wadded-up white sock (instead of a penis-dildo), and wearing a cowboy hat.

Teena's (Hilary Swank) Cross-Dressing Routine

Brandon/Teena became acquainted in town with two ex-convict friends, the volatile and John Lotter (Peter Sarsgaard) and Marvin "Tom" Nissen (Brendan Sexton III), and their teenaged friends Candace (Alicia Goranson) and her sister Lana Tisdel (Chloe Sevigny in a Best Supporting Actress-nominated role). Lotter was Lana's former boyfriend.

One of the film's most controversial elements was Brandon's involvement in a heartbreaking covert lesbian relationship with teenaged, white-trash packing plant worker and love interest Lana Tisdel, who at first was unaware of Brandon's sexual identity issues. After Brandon had confessed his sex, their sexual activities included lesbian kissing, sex in a car, and their prolonged and affecting outdoors oral sex scene on a blanket, during Lana's smoking break at her place of work.

The Most Controversial Lesbian Scene - Oral Sex Between Brandon and Lana (Chloe Sevigny)

With previous legal problems and troubles with the law, Brandon was arrested and jailed, and assigned to the women's section of the Falls City prison. After Brandon was bailed out by Lana, to cover up, he/she attempted to explain to Lana that she was born a hermaphrodite and would soon receive corrective surgery. Soon, Candace was also shocked and disgusted to discover suspicious evidence of trans-gendered Brandon's plans to have genital reconstruction surgery. She found a bloody used tampon, court papers with the name "Teena Brandon," and Brandon's crotch-blood-stained pants.

When the jealous John Lotter and Tom Nissen realized that Brandon/Teena was really a girl - and probably a lesbian, the two homophobes approached her at Lana's mother's house, where they disrobed Brandon in the bathroom by forcibly pulling down her pants and asking: "What the f--k are you?"; they conclusively revealed that 'he' was biologically female. When forced to look, Lana refused to acknowledge what they had discovered: "Leave him alone!" and Lotter snapped back: "HIM? HIM?"

Upset by the discovery that Brandon was really a girl, the two drove Brandon to an isolated area where Lotter raped her from behind over a car - the film's most disturbing scene. With Lana's encouragement, Brandon/Teena filed a police report on Lotter and Nissen for their attack.

Teena Shot by Lotter and Stabbed to Death

During a sickening scene in the film's conclusion set at Candace's farm house about a week later, Brandon was shot at point-blank range in the chin by a drunken John Lotter, who was accompanied by his ex-confict friend "Tom" Nissen. Nissen also put a bullet in the head of Candace. After Brandon slumped to the floor, John stabbed Brandon's lifeless body before fleeing. Brandon's helpless girlfriend Lana Tisdel screamed and watched in horror, and then laid next to the corpse.

In the final scene, Brandon's/Teena's letter to Lana was heard in voice-over as she drove away from the town of Falls City, NB - the letter mentioned their future together: ("Dear Lana, By the time you read this, I'll be back home in Lincoln. I'm scared of what's ahead, but when I think of you, I know I'll be able to go on. You were right. Memphis isn't far at all. I'll be making a trip out on the highway before too long. I'll be waiting for ya. Love always and forever, Brandon").

But I'm A Cheerleader (1999)

Writer/director Jamie Babbit's feature film directorial debut was this R-rated teen picture (originally rated NC-17, but reduced to R after editorial cuts). The independent film was a satirical comedy (with stylized production design emphasizing the color pink) about deprogramming (or reprogramming) clinics and sexual disorientation.

It starred Natasha Lyonne as a 17 year-old, red-haired high school cheerleader named Megan Bloomfield whose parents (Bud Cort and Mink Stole) were worried about her lesbian-leaning behaviors (she had bikini pinups in her locker, "vaginal motifs" in her bedroom and a Melissa Etheridge poster on her wall). So they sent her away to a harsh, homosexual-rehabilitation camp named 'True Directions' to make her heterosexual.

The camp, where "no inappropriate behavior" was allowed, enforced typical stereotypical behaviors (e.g., fixing a car for males, vacuuming - with the sexual connotation of "in and out" -- and taking care of babies for females). Her "cure" had the opposite effect, and in fact accelerated her "coming out" as a lesbian. There she fell for a fellow straight-in-training bad girl college student named Graham Eaton (Clea DuVall).

The film's dialogue had to be modified (the line "You ate Graham out" was deleted), and the masturbation scene of prim-looking Megan masturbating up against a wall while whispering to herself -- over her pink nightgown and mostly off-screen!! -- had to be cut short to get an R-rating for the film.

In one scene with the 'students' dressed in full flesh-colored body suits with fig-leaf patches over their sexual parts, homophobic True Directions founder Mrs. Mary J. Brown (Cathy Moriarty) - during a simulation of heterosexual love-making - instructed that foreplay was for sissies and totally unnecessary: "Real men go in, unload, and pull out."

In another scene, Mrs. Brown's studly gay son Rock (Eddie Cibrian) fondled/stroked the long handle of a garden implement (in between his legs) in front of a group of gay men.

The film ended with its final chapter "GRADUATION," when Megan staged a 'commando raid' in an attempt to rescue Graham from the school's outdoor graduation ceremony, held for all of the "happy heterosexuals" who were graduating and had become "straight" - "out of homosexuality." When Megan failed to drag Graham away, she changed into her orange cheerleader uniform (complete with pompons), and delivered a sappy cheer in the main aisle to Graham:

"One, two, three, four, I won't take no anymore, five, six, seven, eight, I want you to be my mate, one, two, three, four, you're the one that I adore, five, six, seven, eight, don't run from me 'cause this is fate."

She ended with a proclamation of love: "I love you," and then ran for the back of a getaway pickup truck, where she was joined by Graham. They were driven away, vigorously kissing each other in the back of the vehicle.

Coming Soon (1999)

Co-writer/director Colette Burson's debut film was this expurgated R-rated, mediocre sexual coming-of-age teen comedy (without nudity or explicit sexuality). The unrated DVD version was threatened with an NC-17 rating by the MPAA in a decision that was accused of being gender-biased. The romantic comedy was poorly distributed and disappeared fairly quickly.

It was taglined: "It's All About Feeling Good," referring to female-centered sexual pleasure - a concept that has usually made the film industry nervous. Its tagline referenced When Harry Met Sally (1989)... - with:

"You'll Want What She's Having."

The film explored the lives of wealthy Manhattanite private high-school preppies at Halton School, including three high-school seniors, who sought sexual fulfillment:

• Stream Hodsell (Bonnie Root), a strawberry-blonde
• Jenny Simon (Gaby Hoffmann), with fishnet-stockings
• Nell Kellner (Tricia Vessey)

Stream finally lost her virginity but still had never orgasmed and felt sexually and romantically unfulfilled, and resorted to reading self-help books ("Becoming Orgasmic"), browsing women's magazines, and seeking advice from her peers. While having sex, she had the following conversation with her male partner Chad (James Roday):

"I think I was getting closer, but..."
"What are you talking about? You totally came?"
"I did?!"

In another scene in a crowded party bathroom, one redhead spit out the results of oral sex into the sink: "I just can't swallow." Other girl: "Well, who can? A mouthful of sperm has, like, seventeen grams of fat?" The females admitted that sex with a guy was "kind of a drag," and that they felt forced to engage in fellatio with their expectant male partners - usually having their heads pushed down to crotch level.

Cruel Intentions (1999)

Writer/director Roger Kumble's teenaged version of Dangerous Liaisons (1988), an adaptation of Choderlos de Laclos' novel, used sexually-voracious teens as its main characters. Its direct-to-video prequel was Cruel Intentions 2 (2000).

It told about an amoral, bitchy, teen-vamp Manhattan step-sister named Kathryn Merteuil (Sarah Michelle Geller) who demonstrated her manipulative intentions toward innocent and chaste Cecile Caldwell (Selma Blair) to destroy her reputation - she taught her how to slow- and wet-kiss in the park.

As they drew their lips apart, a long stringy strand of saliva stretched between their mouths, and Cecile assessed the kiss:

"That was cool!"

Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (1999)

In this vulgar, bad-taste, non-PC sex comedy directed by Mike Mitchell (and produced by Adam Sandler's production company, plus co-scripted by star Rob Schneider), it was mostly slightly disgusting with some humor; the sequel was Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo (2005):

In the opening title credits, hapless, insecure fish tank cleaner Deuce Bigalow (former SNL cast member Rob Schneider in his first starring role) was fired from his Los Angeles Aquarium job cleaning algae from fish tanks in the nude; desperate for sex, he approached blonde tropical fish supply store clerk Allison (Bree Turner) at the Go Fish store who declined a date invitation; he asked her to retrieve sea snails from the far bottom of a tank, requiring her to dip into the water with her T-shirt and reveal her nipples; he departed with: "Have a good nipple!"

In a Fish Supply Store, Clerk Allison (Bree Turner) Dipping Her T-Shirt into Wet Aquarium Tank

During a Malibu Beach house call as a contracted fish-tank cleaner, he met handsome, bearded Argentinian male gigolo Antoine Laconte (Oded Fehr) with a blonde (Gabrielle Tuite) in his Porsche; inside his luxurious pad, Antoine showed off his custom, hand-made $6,000 dollar fish tank and his prized $1,000 dollar Chinese Tailbar Lionfish; the intimidating Antoine briefly excused himself: "Must make pee-pee," and a torrent of tinkling water was heard from the nearby bathroom; the buffed gravity-boot aficionado bragged to the wimpy Deuce: "Women pay me to give them pleasure"; Deuce was astonished and wondered why he hadn't been advised to take that kind of job in HS: "I'm gonna kill my guidance counselor."

While his client was absent on a three-week business trip to Switzerland, Deuce agreed to baby-sit Antoine's house and his precious fish: ("I would be honored to care for your fish!") after seeing one of his glamorous female clients; however, he was ominously warned: "You mess up anything in my apartment, I'll shove it up your ass." Almost immediately, Deuce set the kitchen on fire with the toaster while warming a huge grilled cheese sandwich, and while incapacitated on Antoine's gravity boot apparatus, he received an extra warning on the answering machine: "You just make sure you keep my apartment clean or you will die. Bye bye"; the aquarium tank was completely destroyed (although Deuce cleverly saved the fish with various water receptacles), with $6,000 dollars of damage that needed to be repaid in three weeks.

A late night phone call from one of Antoine's "naked" clients sent Deuce to the home of Margaret (Marlo Thomas in a cameo) wearing a black negligee where she requested that he pretend to be a half-naked, lost German tourist named Heinz in NYC; her vicious German shepherd Wolfy growled and broke through an adjoining door as she urged: "Now you just focus on your little wiener schnitzel," but he was forced to flee as she stuffed a $10 dollar bill in his scanty red briefs; it dawned on Deuce that he could make money selling himself ("possible career change").

Client Margaret (Marlo Thomas)

"$10 dollars, yeah!" - Deuce Realized to Himself: "Possible career change"

Hooker Claire (Gail O'Grady) Who Charged Deuce $500 Dollars For Her Services

At a bar, the clueless Deuce picked up a blonde prostitute named Claire (Gail O'Grady) who did a "role-reversal" on him back at Antoine's Malibu beach house when he asked for a $10 dollar payment - and she insisted to the disbelieving Deuce that he pay her $500 dollars: (Deuce: "Okay, 300, 400, 500, you're my hooker. No, seriously, where's my ten dollars?"); with impressive karate kicks to his face and crotch, she ordered: "Five hundred dollars or the fish gets it" - while threatening to chew up Antoine's expensive fish in a food blender, but then ran off knowing that Antoine might retaliate against her.

The next day, Claire's pimp Tiberius Jefferson "T.J." Hicks (Eddie Griffin) paid a visit, and declared that he'd rather be called a "male-madam" than a pimp; he claimed to represent "man-whores" such as Deuce who needed his services; illustrating a lecture about the gigolo food chain, he used three varieties of tropical fish in fishbowls; according to him, Antoine was at the top and didn't need a pimp; the "mid-level fish" who worked in hotels, conventions, and senior centers were those who often required the services of a pimp, while Deuce was like the lowest bottom-feeder in the cycle: ("If you work hard and listen to me, this could be you").

TJ warned about Antoine's bad temper: "One time, I dropped a cigar ash on his carpet, and he made me pick it up with my anus"; Deuce acquired TJ as his "male-madam" and took over Antoine's profession as a "man-whore" for a "couple of jobs," in order to pay back his debt to Antoine; after a frizzy-haired makeover and a bare-buns wax job at a salon to the tune of Hot Chocolate's "Sexy Thing," TJ provided one other piece of advice: "You a man-whore now. I'm so proud....Now remember, it's a business. Never, ever fall in love."

Throughout the remainder of the film, Deuce went on many dates (in a series of comical vignettes) comprised of grotesque liaisons with various people who had emotional and physical handicaps or abnormalities, such as obesity, gigantism, and narcolepsy.

His first official client was "full-figured" 750 pound transvestite Fluisa/Jabba Lady (Los Angeles radio personality Big Boy), who was lounging on an upstairs bed: "You're thinkin' those are the biggest boobies you've ever seen...I'm not your average woman"; while conducting "idle chit-chat" with him, she asked with overwhelming sexual innuendo: "You ever parked your bicycle in an airplane hangar?...You ever thrown a toothpick into a volcano?"; obsessed with food and eating, they engaged in a fun game of "fast food trivia" - that Jabba happily and easily won four times.

Afterwards, TJ congratulated Deuce for satisfying Jabba's special needs: "Nobody has ever pleasured Jabba the Slut. Deucey, you have a way of satisfying a woman that would sicken a normal man"; he realized: "You must have a magical 'man-gina''...It's a professional term we man-whores use to describe our he-pussy"; at first, Deuce threatened to quit prostituting himself - reluctant to continue as an "ungrateful he-bitch."

While considering his future as a "man-whore" during a bathroom break at an exclusive restaurant, Deuce had a father-son heart-to-heart talk about "romance" with his father Bob Bigelow (Richard Riehle) who worked there as the men's room attendant; in between farts heard from a toilet stall in the background, he described how he met Deuce's mother - he implied that she was a good-time "Bangkok Betty" hooker that he had paid 200 baht for sex in a strip club, and two days later he married her; Deuce asked: "So, do you think I should be more of a risk-taker?" and his father replied: "Worked for me."

Deuce's next 'man-whore' date was with Tina (Torsten Voges) - a gigantic, 7 1/2 foot tall woman (whose face was always off-screen) who was afflicted with a pituitary gland disorder; she claimed she was from Norway; as he walked along on a sidewalk next to her, she dwarfed him and had huge feet, and off-screen, un-called-for insults were heard from cruel observers: "Freak!...Holy S--t, it's Bigfoot!...Hey, keep it in the circus!...That's a huge bitch!"; Tina claimed: "I had a pituitary gland procedure at UCLA Medical Center and I just fell in love with the people here"; back in her place, she carried him to the bedroom, threw him on a bed, and ripped off his clothes; he satisfied her non-sexually by making her orgasmic when he touched and massaged her large feet.

On his way from Tina's place, Deuce was confronted by angry LAPD Detective Charles "Chuck" Fowler (William Forsythe), who was hot on the trail of known gigolo Antoine: ("You tell Antoine, I'm gonna nail him"); he also divulged, as he unzipped his trousers and exposed himself, that he was a "loser" obsessed about his own small penis size.

Deuce's next client was cute, anti-social Tourette's Syndrome sufferer Ruth (Amy Poehler), who yelled at him through the door intercom: "Goddamn it!"; as they drove off together in a convertible, she uncontrollably screamed: "Shove it up your ass!"; she added: "Ball sweat! Anus! Anus licker...Nipple biter! Naah-naah-naah-naah...Scrotum! Sperm! Sperm face!...Vulva!...Jizz! Jizz trap!...Ehh-- Fart! Dildo! Big -- Big, big titties! S--t! S--t whore!"; Deuce took her to a big-league baseball game, where she worried she would disrupt people around them in the stadium - but her outbursts seemed to fit in: "Crap muncher!...Assholes!...Ball hair!...Scrotum licker!" and she was able to encourage people around them to join her and chant: "Piss face! Piss face! Piss face!"

Ruth Screaming: "Shove it up your ass!"

At a Ballgame: "Piss Face!"

Deuce's next client-date was a recent college graduate whose girlfriends pitched in for her first blind date; he met her in a sushi restaurant where he was astonished that she was a normal-looking, pretty young blonde named Kate (Arija Bareikis); after dinner during a stroll through an amusement park, it appeared that they were talking about sex when she demurred: "I don't see how it could possibly be pleasurable for a woman. I just don't think it's natural. You're not supposed to go up there"; however, she was referring to space exploration, and she asserted: "I just wouldn't do it. Frankly, I'd rather take it up the butt"; after a wonderful evening and goodbye, Deuce found himself ignoring TJ's advice to not fall in love with one of his clients ("she-johns").

The detective had been stalking them, confronted Deuce as he returned to his car, and threatened to bust him for being a man-whore: ("Why don't I just go a have a little chat with your spicy tuna roll?"), but then blackmailed Deuce to produce Antoine's "black book" of clients within three days; he again exposed himself to complain about a mysterious "red spot" on his genitals.

Carol (Deborah Lemen), Deuce's next client, was suffering from a sleeping disorder known as narcolepsy - she had an attack when answering the door and fell at his feet; she explained at a bowling alley: "I'm just not allowed to fly in a plane or drive a car or work in a gun range"; while throwing a bowling ball down the alley and getting a strike, she had an attack and was stretched out on the bowling lane; later, she worried at a restaurant: "I've always wanted to try soup, but there's the fear of drowning"; there were sounds of her tumbling down her front stairs behind the front door after saying goodbye to Deuce.

To the tune of Smash Mouth's "Can't Get Enough of You Baby," Deuce went on more dates with the same clients, earning enough money to fix up Antoine's damaged Malibu home and tank; he became particularly enamoured with Kate, and reluctantly introduced her to his father on his birthday at the restaurant; Kate bought him a Raspberry bibingka cake at a Filipino bakery; he shared an embarrassing remark about Deuce's mother Bangkok Betty: "She had the most amazing mouth. It paid for our honeymoon"; Deuce was further embarrassed when his father's boss Vic (Allen Covert) called upon him to clean up "s--t everywhere" in the ladies' restroom: "I am up to my ankles in human crap. It's a real stinkfest back there"; to Deuce's surprise, Kate was very accepting of his father's lowly profession.

Another Date with Kate	At the Restaurant, Deuce's Father Met Kate and Embarrassed Deuce With His Lowly Profession
Deuce With Kate in Her Bedroom	Deuce with Kate's Disconnected Prosthetic Leg

To the tune of Walter Egan's "Magnet and Steel," after returning back to Kate's home, they clumsily tried to be quiet to avoid waking up Kate's blind roommate Bergita (Dina Platias) as they raced to the upstairs bedroom while undressing each other to have sex; with the lights out, she shyly admitted that there might be "things about me that you don't like" and that her physical body was "maybe a little different than what you were used to" - it was revealed that she had a prosthetic leg when it "fell off" or became "disconnected" in Deuce's hands; completely embarrassed, she asked him to leave, but he fully accepted her and called himself: "the luckiest guy in the world"; they woke up in each other's arms.

Deuce met with Kate's four bachelorette best friends at her sorority Alpha Beta Lamda who were upset that Deuce - a "prostitute" (or "man-whore") - was dating Kate; he vowed he was in love with Kate and was returning the money they had paid for her first blind date with a stranger, but they chastised him: "You stay away from her, man-whore!"

Meanwhile, Detective Fowler was again demanding Antoine's black book (and threatening jail time), although to Deuce, he appeared more worried about toilet splash when he didn't use a "paper ass gasket" in the precinct's dirty toilet; Deuce met with TJ and vowed to quit and earn the money some other way to fix Antoine's apartment: "I'm gonna get the rest of the money the old-fashioned way"; when he went to speak to Kate, she accused him of lying to her: "You were paid to go out with me!" - and she broke up with him; he was saddened during a montage to the tune of Sean Beal's "Can't Smile Without You," but was still determined to get the balance of money needed to complete the renovations.

Deuce was summoned by phone to a ritzy LA hotel room to provide sexual services for another of Antoine's clients - revealed later to be Elaine Fowler (Jacqueline Obradors) - the Detective's unsatisfied wife living in Santa Clarita, CA, who began to strip off Deuce's clothes in anticipation of having sex; to fulfill her payment for services without consummation (due to his love for Kate), he offered to perform an erotic dance for her to the tune of KC and the Sunshine Band's "Get Down Tonight"; when they exited after the evening's entertainment from an elevator into the lobby, Kate saw them together - confirming for her that Deuce was an inveterate liar - she slapped him across the face: "I just had to see for myself."

Deuce surmised that Detective Fowler's pursuit of Antoine had nothing to do with retrieving his black book, but was about seeking revenge for Elaine's promiscuity with Antoine; the penis-obsessed Fowler admitted his small genital size and thin width as the reason for Elaine's pursuit of extra-marital sex - "My dick is too thin...I've got the thinnest penis in the world! Here. It's like a Twizzler. Look!...I'm telling you now, if you painted it silver and twisted it on the end, it'd look like a kickstand...We're talkin' spaghetti stick"; Deuce talked sense into Fowler about why his wife was dissatisfied: "If man-whoring has taught me anything, it's that most women are as unhappy with their entire body as you are with your small penis" - he suggested that Fowler "say something nice to make your woman feel sexy" to solve his own personal issues and fix his marriage; shortly later, Deuce taught Fowler how to strip-dance in Elaine's presence.

After speaking to his boss, Fowler apologized and made amends with Deuce: "I really appreciate you helping me. I guess I misjudged you," but Fowler continued to insist that Deuce betray his friend-pimp TJ, or he would face charges of prostitution himself.

A court hearing was called, when the District Attorney (Robb Skyler) declared: "Mr. Bigalow has compounded this crime by refusing to name his he-pimp"; he was charged with five counts of prostitution; suddenly, Jabba Lady made a grand entrance into the courtroom, burped, and then testified on Deuce's behalf: ("We never had sex. We talked about it. Well, I talked about it. But Deuce never took advantage of me. He should have. But he's my friend. He made me realize that I wasn't just some hot babe with huge tits. Even though I am. Oh, and he also got me walkin' again").

In further testimony, Tina also admitted how much Deuce had helped her without resorting to sex: ("Deuce and I never had sex. It was physically impossible....It's true I paid him money to be with him, and I'd do it again because he made me feel good about myself....And no one ever touched my feet before"); Ruth also claimed: "Deuce taught me to be comfortable with who I am. Thank you, Deuce", and then uncontrollably yelled out: "Y-- Asshole!"

Deuce admitted to the Judge that he had sex with just one woman - Kate - and then vowed: "And I'm in love with her"; the case was dismissed by Judge Addison (Ron Soble) because Kate hadn't paid him for sex (he had returned the money anyway).

Deuce snuck into Kate's hair transplant office as a patient to be able to converse with her during her work day as Dr. Rosenblatt's (Barry Cutler) assistant; he apologized: ("This whole gigolo thing was just a mistake. But I'm glad it happened 'cause I never would have met you. I never would have known what love was...You're perfect in every way"), and then he read to her about his love: "Kate, you have a smile that could melt an iceberg. Your lips are as sweet as honey. You may only have one leg, but it's the most beautiful leg in the world."

The finishing touches were being put on Antoine's home with help provided by some of Deuce's clients and friends, with time constraints as he was to arrive back soon; at the airport, Antoine was detained and strip-searched by Tina dressed in a security uniform; the fish tank had been rebuilt, but to everyone's horror, the blind Bergita served up margaritas (actually, Antoine's prized fish ground-up in a blender); with donations of $800 from friends, Deuce purchased replacement fish at the Go Fish store from Allison and raced home just in time; when the suspicious Antoine arrived, he asked to drink the "chocoloate margarita" concoction with a spicy taste in the blender; then, Antoine tapped on the glass of his aquarium as he noted the fish looked smaller, and the entire side of the tank cracked and flooded the floor.

With Antoine fuming, Deuce admitted he had done some 'man-whoring' during his absence but not with his clients; the enraged Antoine fought Deuce with a battle-axe, who defended himself with Kate's prosthetic leg; Deuce also assumed a slo-mo "bullet-time" Matrix position to dodge other hurled objects; Antoine then fired his crossbow weapon at Deuce, but Fluisa/Jabba Lady stepped in-between them and was hit in the chest - fortunately, she had a roasted chicken stuffed into her bodice.

As the film concluded, Detective Fowler busted Antoine, Bergita regained her eyesight (after time hidden in a closet with TJ), and Deuce and Kate became a couple; during the end credits, revelations were unveiled: (1) Deuce's father became a full-time man-whore and increased his salary, (2) Ruth founded an all-girls Tourette's school - The Dicklick Shitballs Academy, (3) Carol took a dream trip to France and tumbled off the Eiffel Tower, (4) after liposuction, Big Daddy became a Victoria's Secret top model, (5) orange-suited Antoine was with Tina and the two were destined to have tall and hairy kids, and (6) TJ starred in a hit sitcom titled: "Hanging with Mr. Man-pimp."

The End of the Affair (1999, US/UK)

Director/writer Neil Jordan's adaptation of Graham Greene's autobiographical novel told of a torrid love affair during WWII between:

• Maurice Bendrix (Ralph Fiennes), a novelist
• Sarah Miles (Oscar-nominated Julianne Moore), married

The Affair Between Maurice and Sarah (Julianne Moore)

Their affair was told in flashback by Maurice, two years following the abrupt breakup of their relationship, and Maurice finally learned the reason for its end.

They had sex together amidst air-raid sirens and bombs exploding in his dusty and dark apartment. In one scene, they were caught during furtive love-making as her oblivious civil servant husband Henry Miles (Stephen Rea) returned home:

Bendrix (whispering): "What if he heard?"
Sarah: "He wouldn't recognize the sound."

Their affair ended when Sarah thought Maurice was killed by a bomb blast and she vowed to God (who had answered her prayer and allowed Maurice to live) that she had to break up their affair no matter how painful and lonely it would be.

The Escort (1999, Fr./UK) (aka Mauvaise Passe)

Writer/director Michel Blanc's film was a grim and bleak drama. The film's tagline referred to the protagonist's new profession-for-hire - as an escort gigolo (for women):

"He'll be your friend, he'll be your lover, but it's strictly by the hour."

The melodramatic plot was about the life of a middle-aged, married, French university lecturer and would-be writer:

• Pierre (Daniel Auteuil)

In the midst of a mid-life crisis, he moved from his family in Paris to London where he lived by himself in a dank apartment and suffered impoverishment and writer's block. Through the assistance of Irish cafe owner Tom (Stuart Townsend), he decided to support himself by becoming a part-time professional escort (or gigolo) through an agency.

Although his lifestyle changed in some ways for the better, his dehumanizing sex-on-demand profession in London's Soho underworld and his use of drugs became more complicated when he began to exploit and present false promises to vulnerable, married regular client Patricia (Claire Skinner) for lucrative motivations.

In one scene, while performing oral sex between her raised legs, he suavely, insincerely and reassuringly told her: "Relax, everything's fine."

By film's end, male prostitute Pierre had completely sold out - he wrote a best-selling novel of his degrading experiences that further disintegrated his life.

Eyes Wide Shut (1999, UK)

Director Stanley Kubrick's last film was an exploration and confessional of marital infidelity, betrayal, jealousy, trust, and erotic desire and gamesmanship. The film was an adaptation of a 1926 novella by Arthur Schnitzler entitled Traumnovelle (Rhapsody: A Dream Story).

It was especially notable for starring the sexy, celebrity real-life (at the time of filming) couple of Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, as the film's two main characters and their sexual misadventures:

• William "Bill" Harford (Tom Cruise), a social-climbing, wealthy NY physician
• Alice (Nicole Kidman), his wife, an ex-art gallery curator

The film opened eyes immediately with Alice's initial undressing sequence in preparation for going to a Christmas party. During the party, both attracted opposite-sex admirers. Harford - with two seductive female models Gayle and Nuala (one on each arm) promising to take him to "where the rainbow ends" - was called away from the party by his half-dressed married host, Victor Ziegler (Sydney Pollack), to attend to a drug overdose of naked hooker Amanda 'Mandy' Curran (Julienne Davis) (sprawled in a chair), someone that Ziegler planned to have sex with before she passed out when shooting up (a combination of heroin and coke). During his absence, Alice was propositioned by a suave Hungarian named Sandor Szavost (Sky Dumont) who suggested she read Latin poet Ovid's Art of Love, but she rejected his advances. In the next scene, often used to promote the film, the married couple were narcissistically viewed caressing and kissing each other during a make-out session in front of a mirror.

The next day, there was a montage of their regular weekdays - Alice was a stay-at-home mother, while Harford was at the office where he briefly examined the heartbeat of a beautiful, starkly half-naked female patient with his stethoscope, and then instructed "That's fine, you can put your gown on." There was a quick view of the sexy Alice from the back - and naked from behind, and struggling to put on her black bra.

After smoking dope, Bill and Alice discussed their encounters with their would-be seducers. Bill vowed that he didn't sleep with the two models from the previous night's party. When he asserted that he wouldn't have slept with them out of consideration for her and his love, Alice wondered: "Do you realize that what you're saying is that the only reason you wouldn't f--k those models is out of consideration for me?" Alice then asked hypothetically about his patients: "Let's say, for example, you have some gorgeous woman standing in your office naked and you're feeling her f--king tits. Now, what I want to know, I want to know what are you really thinking about when you're squeezing them." He claimed it was very "impersonal," he was always "professional," and there was always a nurse present. She went further: "When she is having her little titties squeezed, do you think she ever has any little fantasies about what handsome Dr. Bill's dickie might be like?" He tried to dissuade her line of thinking: "I can assure you sex is the last thing on this f--king hypothetical woman patient's mind." But she retorted that men, in contrast to women, have very base instincts: "Men have to stick it every place they can."

When he claimed that he thought that she would never be unfaithful to him, as the mother of their seven-year-old daughter Helena, she began to confess her fantasy of abandoning her husband and daughter for a young naval officer (Gary Goba) (imagined and viewed in his mind in bluish tinged black-and-white images) the previous summer during a family holiday at Cape Cod. She contemplated risking her domestic life and marriage by carrying through on the dalliance for just one night ("I was ready to give up everything"). At any moment, she could potentially betray and leave him - and then he was interrupted by a phone call to begin a long journey.

During his long two-night wanderings with other tempting offers of marital infidelity during his odyssey, Harford contemplated seeking sexual revenge (were all the circumstances a dream or reality? - the film asked). He was propositioned by engaged female friend Marion Nathanson (Marie Richardson) - the grieving daughter of deceased patient Lou, but he rebuffed her. He was also tempted to engage the services of an HIV-positive (later revealed) hooker named Domino (Vinessa Shaw), but didn't carry through when he received a phone call from Alice. Then, he was offered the underage, bra and panties-adorned daughter (Leelee Sobieski) of pimping Mr. Milich (Rade Serbedzija), a costume shop proprietor.

The most talked-about sequence was an upper-class masked, choreographed orgy function (attended only by ultra-elite) that Harford snuck into at a large country manor on Long Island, while wearing a rented tuxedo, cape, and mask from Rainbow Fashions. Harford entered, after giving the password 'Fidelio' (a reference to Beethoven's conjugal love opera). The function began with Satanic-like incantations by a crimson-cloaked high-priest Master of Ceremonies. He was inside a circle of black-cloaked figures, who dropped their outer cover, revealing themselves as naturally-endowed, almost-nude, G-stringed masked females with black thongs. They knelt in an inner circle and were there to ritualistically service the masked men in anonymity and isolation.

A masked party principal (known in the credits as a Mysterious Woman) (Abigail Good), identified with a large dark blue headdress was tapped to leave the circle. She strode over to the masked Harford, gave him a soulless, ritualized and dehumanized kiss, and then led him down a hallway, and seemed to recognize him. She warned him: "I'm not sure what you think you're doing. But you don't belong here...Please, don't be foolish. You must go now." Without identifying herself, she cautioned: "You are in great danger. You must get away while there's still a chance." She was briefly taken away up a long staircase by one of the masked leaders.

During her absence, Harford roamed through the ornate mansion's rooms filled with emotionless, loveless copulating couples (in mechanical and sterile stances of intercourse - front and rear entry, also a 69 sexual position, and a lesbian three-some, while many participants voyeuristically watched).

[Note: The sexually-explicit images were digitally censored, obscured and obstructed (cloaked with computer-generated people) in various releases by Warner Bros. to prevent an NC-17 rating, angering American audiences.]

The Controversial Orgy Scene
Censored	Uncensored

Soon after, an unidentified nude female came up to Harford and asked: "Have you been enjoying yourself?" She propositioned him: "Do you want to go somewhere a little more private?" When he replied: "That might be a good idea," they were interrupted by the appearance of the Mysterious Woman again (now completely naked) (was it Mandy?) - she led him away, but promised to return him in a few minutes. She again warned him about more danger: "You can't fool them for much longer. You've got to get away before it's too late." When he asked her identity, she responded: "You don't want to know. But you must go, now!" She refused to leave with him: "It could cost me my life and possibly yours." When his trespassing as an interloper was revealed and he was brought before the entire black-garbed court, he did not know the second password. When ordered to remove his clothes by the Master of Ceremonies in a red cloak, the Mysterious Woman (on the second floor balcony) called out: "Stop! Let him go! Take me! I am ready to redeem him." Harford was freed and led away, while she sacrificially volunteered herself to be punished instead of Harford - although it was possibly staged as a charade or scare tactic.

Later, ex-beauty queen Mandy was found dead of a drug overdose at the morgue (was she deliberately overdosed or was it simply an accident or suicide?), seen in a top-view full-frontal shot. When Harford looked down at her, he was urged to kiss her face - her death mask. Was her death the end result of saving him at the orgy? Harford took the advice of Victor and others to stop being so inquisitive, and avoid danger by returning home, where he and his wife both safely emerged from their adventures and both valued fidelity. Alice expressed to him her uncensored desire to make love without their deceptive masks, but with real 'eyes wide open' intimacy:

"I do love you and you know there is something very important we need to do as soon as possible...F--k."

Flypaper (1999)

This eccentric, suspenseful, R-rated neo-noir crime film by writer/director Klaus Hoch was told with three separate story lines (copying Pulp Fiction (1994)) with an ensemble cast of lowlifes. It featured an entrapped fiancee, rattlesnakes, bondage, revenge, backstabbing over $1 million, and kidnapping. Its tagline stated:

"With friends like these, you're bound to get stuck!"

Talisa Soto starred as private eye Amanda, a black-leathered S&M devotee who was hired by cheated-upon wife Laura (Ileana Douglas) to provide payback to her philandering husband Joe (John McGinley). Amanda stripped him down to his underwear and handcuffed his hands and feet to bed posts, as she taunted him:

"It's a game I always play. And if you want to play with me, you have to play the game...I like to be in control. I like when a man is totally helpless...You do want to be my slave, don't you, Joe?"

He replied: "It's your world, baby. I'm just a squirrel looking for a nut. Do you know what I'm tryin' to say to ya? Are you window-shopping? Do you like what you see?" Then, his wife entered the room and threatened: "I'm gonna cut it off" - forcing him to beg and apologize.

In one of the most unusual sex scenes ever filmed, kidnapped meth lab drug chemist/worker Dot (Lucy Liu) made love to snake farmer enthusiast Jerry (James Wilder) at the bottom of an emptied swimming pool. They stripped and then proceeded down to the lowest point in the pool to lie together on a red blanket.

Dot (Lucy Liu) Love-Making Amidst Rattlesnakes

Behind Dot, writhing, poisonous rattlesnakes were kept and they slithered around as they had intercourse - the two were simultaneously bitten by the creatures. His idea was to test a new anti-venom drug - he promised it would be "something that will make you feel immortal."

Forever Mine (1999)

Writer/director Paul Schrader's film was a melodramatic and risqué romantic noirish thriller (a direct to video/cable release, shown in its debut on Starz! Cable-TV).

Its erotic themes were obsession, jealousy, betrayal, revenge, and guilt. Although beautifully filmed, Schrader received the most negative reviews of his career for it.

The romance-drama opened with the quote from Walter Pater:

"It is the addition of strangeness to beauty that constitutes the romantic character in art."

The film involved two characters who were overtaken by each other at a plush Miami beachfront resort in 1973, and a third individual (the husband), to create a doomed love triangle:

• Alan Riply (Joseph Fiennes), a university student and 23 year-old cabana "towel boy"
• Ella (Gretchen Mol), a beautiful, curvacious, neglected, unhappily married blonde honeymooning guest
• Mark Brice (Ray Liotta), a sinister and ruthless NYC politician newly married to Ella

Told in flashback from the year 1987, it began as well-dressed, international financier, criminal attorney and heavy-accented Latino drug lord Senor Manuel Esquema (Joseph Fiennes) was on an airplane to NY. He was recollecting his younger years 14 years earlier as Alan Riply (also Joseph Fiennes), his secret love affair with Ella in Miami, now holding his only remembrance - a string of Catholic rosary beads. His face was horribly disfigured and maimed.

Alan first spotted Ella emerging stunningly in slow-motion from snorkeling in the ocean in a white bathing suit, at the hotel where he worked. They soon engaged in a passionate adulterous affair (glossily and sensually photographed in various love scenes in Miami and the NY area), in which they flagrantly and undiscreetly showed their affections for each other at the hotel and in the area. When the married couple returned to New York, Alan followed her and took a lowly bank job in the area, and was living in a cheap room at the Queen Hotel in Yonkers. Haunted by his presence, Ella met with Alan and made love again in Room 31 of his tawdry room (with the words "Give All to Love," the film's tagline, scrawled on the wall).

When Ella confessed and revealed their affair to the jealous Brice, he was angered at the "love-sick cabana boy" following her around. He had Ripley arrested and jailed by police for harrassment. When Alan was insistent that his unwavering "purpose" in life was to be with Ella ("like plants turning toward the sun, or death or taxes"), Brice accused him of uttering "gibberish" and threatened: "There's two types of people in this world. Assholes and pricks. You're an asshole, and I'm a prick. Do the math. Ella's mine." He ordered his henchmen to inflict deadly retribution on the cheating "loverboy" at a construction site, and Alan was believed dead when shot in the face and buried alive. As it turned out, Riply survived, but his face, even after reconstructive surgery, was permanently scarred and he had limited vision and use of his right hand.

He had also adopted a "new identity" for himself. The lovelorn Riply emerged in another guise 14 years later on his way to NYC as Senor Esquema, to reclaim Ella and to seek a more violent vendetta, at a time when Brice was under indictment for corruption, and had called upon "banker" Esquema to be a legal advisor and "fixer" - to broker a deal with Justice Department government attorneys and help City Councilman Brice avoid court. When he met with Ella in private, he frightened her when he boldly affirmed: "I want to know you better." Her volunteer job was reading to the elderly at the Pine Grove Retirement Living, her favorite book Madame Bovary. Esquema returned the rosary necklace to Ella's jewelry box in her bedroom when he snuck into her house one evening, and then when Ella returned home, he confessed: "You're all I care about. I came here for you" - and after a kiss, she realized he was Alan and they made love. She proposed that they "go away and start over," and added: "I don't want to be a part of your revenge."

As part of Esquema's compensation for arranging a lesser plea bargain, he told an astonished Brice: "I would like to take your wife Ella from you...I love your wife, she loves me." After Ella and Alan drove away to a new life, they were followed and traced by a gun-wielding, humiliated Brice to their overnight accommodations at Barrington Lodge, where Alan was confronted by the crazed husband: "I'm gonna kill you, I'm gonna kill her, and then I'm gonna kill myself. We're all gonna die for love. See, I'm a romantic too." Alan was shot in the upper right thigh and then in the side of the neck, but was able to wrestle the gun from Brice before smashing his head against the concrete porch step.

On the way to the hospital in an ambulance, Ella urged Alan as he was dying to keep conscious - and they engaged in a remembered (mostly in voice-over) sentimental conversation together about their first fateful idyllic meeting, shown in a collage or montage of images:

Ella: "Think back. Remember Key Biscayne. Come on, try. Alan, come on, I'm right here. Remember, the hotel was on the beach. It was spring. The sun shone every day. You worked at the hotel. You were 23."
(Alan: "I was a cabana boy. The season had just begun. It was my second year at the hotel. I was taking classes. Javier was my friend.")
Ella: "I was visiting with my husband. He was older than me. We had only been married eight months. He was in politics."
(Alan: "I saw you coming from the ocean. You were wearing a white suit. Jimmy Buffett was singing on a beach radio. You ordered water.")
Ella: "I watched for you everywhere. I had never done that before. I had never felt that way before."
(Alan: "I realized nothing would be the same. I realized my life had changed. I realized it would be important. I realized you would be forever mine.")