Coming Attractions
Movie Review
Faithless
Faithless marks a significant milestone in the adult industry. I’m pretty sure this is the first time an established mainstream actress has intentionally made the jump into the adult world. Sure, there have been plenty of mainstream celebrities whose homemade movies have been turned into adult releases (Pamela Anderson, Paris Hilton, and Kim Kardashian to name but a few), but I believe this is the first time we’ve seen someone from the mainstream come into the industry with the explicit (and I do mean explicit!) purpose of making a porno.
That’s not to say former Miss USA Kelli McCarty has actually been a household name over the years. Her most notable role up until now was a prolonged stint she did on the now-cancelled NBC daytime soap opera Passions. She’s also appeared as a guest star on several other notable network and cable shows, as well as being cast in some of those late-night direct-to-cable movies you see on channels like Cinemax.
I’m not going to tell you that Kelli is the hottest thing to enter the porn world in years, nor am I going to tell you that her sexual scenes are off the charts. What I will tell you is that for a 39-year-old, Ms. McCarty still has a very nice body, and while her two sex scenes in Faithless (both one-on-one boy/girl encounters) may not win any awards, she doesn’t have anything to be ashamed of, either. In short, if you’ve been a mainstream follower of Kelli’s and can’t wait to see her get naughty on camera, you’re not going to feel cheated after picking up this DVD.
What I do take slight issue with is Paul Thomas’ film, which almost comes across like it was rushed into production on limited notice – both in terms of visuals and storytelling (and who knows, that might very well be the case). Ms. McCarty may not be a professionally trained actress, but she’s the closest thing to a legitimate one the adult industry has seen in a long time (notwithstanding the skills of some adult performers who certainly could match many of their mainstream counterparts). So why not give her something to do here that would allow her to show off those talents? Thomas’ movie is a rather by-the-numbers affair, with little in terms of originality or an interesting storyline. Instead we get a porn movie whose plot we’ve seen a thousand times before: an unhappy married couple (here portrayed by Kelli and Steven St. Croix) winds up cheating on each other with other close friends of their family.
For Kelli, that means giving into her attraction to her stepdaughter’s (Daisy Marie) boyfriend (Voodoo); while for Steven, it means having an affair with his best friend’s (Herschel Savage, in a non-sex role) wife (Kelly Leigh). In fact, all of the sexual encounters in Faithless are one-on-one, although during the opening scene an outdoor pairing between Daisy Marie and Voodoo takes place only a few feet away from a pairing between Jennifer Dark and James Deen (who team up a second time in the very next scene).
Kelli’s first sex scene is with Steven St. Croix, and it’s one that begins passionately, gets interrupted, then results in a fight between the two characters that leads to Steven forcing himself on Kelli. The two eventually wind up in their bedroom, where Steven and Kelli go at it in the cowgirl, spoon and doggy positions, ending with him jerking his load onto her body. Her second scene is the final one in the movie, where she gives into her lust for Voodoo and goes at it with him on top of a car outside of a garage where he works. As sex scenes go, Kelli’s scene with Voodoo is probably the more appealing of the two visually, partially because it’s better lit than her indoor scene with Steven.
The movie has been shot with HD equipment, and gets an anamorphic transfer onto DVD. Although many scenes look great, others are not lit very well – something that’s been a problem for years in many of Paul Thomas’ movies. Audio is solid, if not outstanding, and presented in 2.0 Dolby.
Once you get past the numerous pre-loaded advertisements on this disc, the rest of the bonus materials aren’t bad, and include a 28-mintue behind the scenes featurette, as well as five bonus scenes taken from other Vivid releases. Also included are four trailers for other Vivid titles, a slide show, and a text biography for Ms. McCarty.
Because this is Kelli’s first (and possibly only, since this movie was shot back in May of 2008, and there are no reports of further work) adult feature and she does quite nicely, I’m giving Faithless a solid, but not overwhelming, recommendation. While I’m disappointed Vivid didn’t use this opportunity to make a much more interesting movie, there’s also no denying that watching Kelli perform in two complete sex scenes was worth the price of admission.
Spooky
Adult DVD Empire
March 2009
Faithless
(Vivid; Paul Thomas; 2008)
Available at Adult DVD Empire
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