Marriage Counselor, The

THE MARRIAGE COUNSELOR is a slight, unexceptional, yet entertaining feature video directed by Jonathan Morgan and featuring Kirsten Price. She and Rocco Reed play a couple undergoing marriage counseling, where descriptions of their sexual fantasies are brought to life by other performers, even though the actual practice falls flat for them. As with all blue movies, the narrative is only meant to string together different sexual scenarios, maintaining variety within a simple plotline. However, this movie is billed as a comedy so the carnal enactments are far more exaggerated than what you get from a drama.

I'll be honest: Most adult comedies simply don't impress me in the least bit, if only because the majority of performers simply can't pull it off. Even the best written dialogue can't survive actors who recite their lines in a monotone, or actresses who overact. Exaggerated emotions, miscued timing, and cliched humor can make eyes roll or create unintentional laughs. In other words, most porn simply isn't funny.

I'm happy to state, however, that THE MARRIAGE COUNSELOR avoid most of those faults. Sure, the wit isn't exactly sophisticated, and the jokes are more than a bit obvious, but Director Morgan keeps the movie lighthearted without infringing on the intensity of the hardcore. Following some introductory dialogue among Kirsten, Rocco Reed, and a disembodied counselor, we're introduced to the first scene involving Tommy Gunn as a firefighter and Jayden James as a nurse. They perform in costume to the extent that the exchange of bodily fluids allow (as with nearly every Wicked flick, condoms are used during penetration), but the hardcore action is worth the occasional visual distractions. Jayden looks terrific while bopping up and down in cowgirl, and maintains her cuteness even after getting blasted on the face.

The next scene features sexy redhead Marie McCray as a submissive in a bondage and domination setting. Shot in a dark, blue tone, the fetish theme is really quite tame, but what really made my jaw drop was the unexpected appearance of her partner, Alex Sanders. Looking thicker and significantly older than I remember, it was my belief that this popular woodsman from the nineties had retired long ago. However, some quick, on-line research proved me wrong. Miss McCray blows and then gets fucked by Mr. Sanders in a steady and methodical manner. It isn't as wild as one might expect from a scene like this, but anything Marie does is enjoyable.

Kirsten meet up with a very romantic Tony DeSergio at an imaginary swingers party, while Rocco indulges in every guy's fantasy of sharing two women (Shawna Lenee and Brandy Blair) played out in his mind. Predictably, Kirsten's affair is loving and passionate, as the two kiss in front of a fireplace, and make love like they were in an xxx-rated soap opera, concluding with a cumshot to her mouth (perhaps not quite the kind of climax most females have in mind). Rocco's menage a trois is straight out of the realities probably experienced by Hugh Hefner, as the two blondes devour Mr. Reed like he was the last man on earth. They take turns sucking and riding him, and finish him off by orally sharing his spunk. Naturally, I've seen better and nastier threeways in many other videos, but it's still pretty hot and a nice change of pace from all the straight one-on-one action.

In the end, Kirsten Price and Rocco realize that acting out their fantasies will never lead to success, so they resort to having normal, straightforward sex without all the distractions. It's a predictable ending, and quite frankly, disappointed me because we're denied the opportunity to see Kirsten perform in a lesbian scene (which would definitely be a product of Rocco's fantasies than hers). Of course, watching Kirsten suck cock deeply and lovingly, and then getting filled with man-meat are undeniable pleasures, so my complaints are really .

The video and video quality is as good as any other Wicked Blu-ray title. In fact, the high definition picture is better suited for Francois Clousot's camera work, which can often be too dark and too shadowy. The video quality is not nearly as stunning as that produced by other studios like Digital Playground or Elegant Angel, but it is a noticeable visual improvement over the standard DVD. However, bonus materials are sorely lacking: all we get is a Photo Gallery, a trailer for the main feature, and some internet ads. To be fair, the regular DVD lacked any Behind The Scenes featurette and other production material, but a bonus scene starring Kirsten and Tommy Gunn taken from UPTOWN GIRL was included. I'm not sure why Wicked decided to leave it off the Blu-ray, but I'm sure that viewers who might otherwise be interested in this disc will feel slightly cheated.

I recommend THE MARRIAGE COUNSELOR, but not necessarily as a first choice Wicked Blu-ray feature. Though also deficient in extras, epic titles like OPERATION DESERT STORMY and FALLEN clearly should clearly come first in your high definition collection.