Around

As I've noted in other reviews, Stormy Daniels is one of the most talented women working in porn these days. Not only is she a beautiful and erotic performer, but she can also write and direct, making her "the total package" in every sense of the word. However, I've noticed a trend in Stormy's last few movies that is starting to worry me. She excels at making quality "couples" titles...but with Gossip and this title, Around, Stormy seems to be making the storylines so women-friendly that she risks alienating the primary buyers of pornography: men. There's only one sex scene in Around that I think male viewers are really going to enjoy, and the other four scenes are rather "vanilla" - in other words, great for women to watch, but not kinky or naughty enough for us horny males.

Around centers around two sisters, a somewhat innocent girl-next-door type (played by Eva Angelina) and a more world-wise feminist (played by Stormy). As the movie opens, Eva is out on her first date with Randy Spears (playing slimy as only Randy knows how). He seduces her into bed, and while Randy is obviously just out to get laid, Eva believes she has finally met "the one".

Meanwhile, Stormy's character is busy with a man of her own. She's making out with Marcus London in a coupling that has her taking it cowgirl and missionary, then allowing him to jerk off on her stomach.

Eva gets upset when Randy doesn't call her back after together, and seeing how depressed her sister is, Stormy takes her out for a night on the town at a local club. But while there, Eva sees Randy picking up two other women (Haley Paige and Sammie Rhodes), and she follows Randy back to his place, where he screams at her and slams the door in her face.

With his attention now turned back to Haley and Sammie, Randy convinces them to make out with one another, and we get a nice girl/girl scene that includes Sammie using a glass dildo on Haley, who later uses the same dildo on Sammie's ass.

Eva has deserted her sister at the club, and Stormy leaves alone only to discover that she has a flat tire on her SUV. A kind doctor played by Van Damage offers to change the tire for Stormy, and she's so impressed by his kindness that she offers him a ride home. On the way there, they find a despondent and depressed Eva pulled over on the side of the road, and they take her back to Stormy's place.

Stormy and Van start dating, and Stormy begins to realize that she may have finally met "Mr. Right". They make out on a couch together, with Stormy getting drilled missionary and doggy style, then taking a nice pop-shot into her mouth.

On their next date, Van is called away when his beeper goes off, leaving Stormy alone in a club. Randy is also there and starts hitting on her, first by sending a drink over to her table. When Stormy realizes that the guy who dumped her sister is now the one hitting on her, she decides to get revenge and begins to "throw herself" at Randy. The two make their way back to Stormy's place, but when she starts using the same moves on Randy that he made on Eva, Randy gets suspicious and tries to make a break for it.

But Stormy isn't going to let Randy get away so easily. In the best scene of the movie, she "" him into the bedroom, where she has him wear a collar and puts him in cuffs while she teases then fucks him silly. (Oh, if we could only all be this lucky!) After Randy has popped onto her pussy, Stormy returns with a strap-on saying that she's not finished with him yet! Fortunately (at least for most of us), we don't get to see Stormy use the strap-on!

Even though she's gotten back at Randy for what he's done to her sister, Van Damage's character finds out Stormy has been cheating on him, and ends the relationship. Surprisingly, the two don't kiss and make up before the end of the film. Meanwhile Eva has moved on, hooking up with the sci-fi geek (Eric Masterson) she works with, and even dressing up in an outfit for him when the two finally get it on (a hot silver number with boots!).

Around is presented in anamorphic widescreen, with 5.1 Dolby sound, and options to listen to 2.0 tracks in Spanish, German, Greek, French, or Italian. Extras on the DVD include a deleted sex scene between Holly Wellin and Scott Styles; a coupling between Stormy and Eric Masterson from 3 Wishes; a 25-minute Behind The Scenes segment; 6 ½ minutes worth of bloopers; and the standard slide shows, trailers, bios and promotional materials that appear on most Wicked DVDs.

The major problems with Around are that it's a little long for a comedy (it clocks in at 114 minutes), and there's too many lags between the five sex scenes in the film and not enough interesting things going on for the viewer not to notice. The Stormy/Randy team-up is by far the best reason to see the movie, and one comes away wishing all the scenes had that kind of energy to them. I'm a big Stormy fan, so it pains me to say it...but you'll probably want to rent Around instead of buying it.