Despite vodka tonic's somewhat scathing review, I took a look at "Bare Stage," which got several AVN Award nominations in the not-very-competitive film categories. I enjoyed it quite a bit more.

Why? The concept really appealed to me. The movie depicts the presentation of what appears to be a school play, but with live-on-stage hardcore. Everything takes place on a stage with appropriately makeshift sets, and several props (like guns or movie cameras) are made of cardboard cutouts. It's a good idea in general, and it's also a clever excuse for hammy acting and other dramatic goofiness.

Really, until things go off the rails a bit in an elongated ending, all the dialogue scenes are very watchable. My impression after one viewing is that the non-sex portions of the movie are among the best written I've seen in porn, and they're performed well. I got a kick out of Savanna Samson's deliberately exaggerated Texas accent and Voodoo's Edward G. Robinson voice. There's some legitimately funny shit, including bits that simultaneously employ and satirize theater mannerisms (I loved the "I am a tear" guy).

But how's the stroke value? There's the rub. It's not Flesh Hunter. I confess again that I've become strangely easy to please in my weird inversion of jadedness. Now that I have seen it all, if you give me a movie that doesn't frustrate me on the narrative level, all I really need is for the pretty lady to let me see her naked and having sex. But I can't really disagree with most of vt's critique of the sex scenes. Some are on the tepid end of the pool, and they're not always presented ideally.

The verdict: I definitely support Bare Stage as a worthy nominee in the categories of Best Film, Best Actress (Samson), Best Supporting Actress (Zen), Best Director (David Stanley) and especially Best Screenplay (Stanley). Nominations for Best Non-Sex Role (Tony Tedeschi), Best All-Girl Scene (Samson and Zen) and Best Oral Scene (Zen and Eric Masterson) are either a little dodgy or simply filler for the sparsely populated film categories.

Next up -- Debbie Does Dallas: The Revenge