I've been watching some of actress-turned director Stormy Daniels' work lately and applaud her attempts to pump some life into the endangered species- storyline porn. LOVE AND LOSS is a serious feature I enjoyed watching, except for one obvious plot hole that could have been corrected at the writing (or cast read-through) stage.
Maddy O'Reilly, who had an enviable 2014 of success with many plum roles, stars as Lainie, introduced with ne'er-do-well boyfriend Jeremy (Brendon Miller, a regular in Stormy movies). They have stand-up sex in the shower, with the incongruous condom worn (in line with distrib Wicked's safe-sex proselytizing policy).
He's an ex-con, who's tagged as immediate suspect in the next scene where he witnesses a convenience store holdup and shooting, with the cops arriving shooting Jeremy and letting the actual criminal (a Black man they don't see) escape.
Chad White is the trigger-happy cop Casey who shoots Jeremy when he sees him holding the gun left behind by the actual robber, who Jeremy tried to stop from fleeing. Casey's partner Alex (sympathetic Seth Gamble) finds out from the cashier victim in the hospital (before she dies) that Jeremy was innocent -the robber was Black. Crucially, Casey puts on the pressure and threats to prevent Alex from telling the truth and exonerating the dead man- Alex quits the police force ashamed of what he's covered up.
Interesting plot twists start a-comin', as Casey goes to talk with Alex, but finds latter's wife (AJ Applegate) home alone. Turns out they had an affair previously, and though AJ is dead- set against it she succumbs to Casey's seduction (and his really big dick) for a roll in the hay.
Movie jumps three years into the future, and now Lainie is working as a waitress opposite cute sidekick Tracy (Penny Pax, with her trademark glasses, and refreshingly non-gonzo for this mainstream assignment). Lainie serves as matchmaker, fixing up Tracy with diner customer Ramon Nomar (essentially playing the Manuel Ferrara role), while herself being attracted to another customer, who turns out to be Alex. She never met him at the time of Jeremy's death, so this is credible enough.
Pax's great success in bed with Ramon has her encourage Lainie to give Alex a tumble, and the duo fall in lust and love (but that's another title for Stormy to shoot, I guess). Three months later she's at his house and discovers his clippings about the Jeremy crime, and is shocked to discover that he was a cop on the scene, who she assumes killed Jeremy.
This is where a key plot element goes awry - Lainie blows up at Alex, stressing that her Jeremy could never have killed that girl (the cashier) and was innocent of the robbery, and she puts an end to their relationship. Her outburst directly contradicts an earlier scene where she reveals how betrayed she felt that Jeremy had returned to his life of crime after pledging to her that he had gone straight. Surely, she was aware of the murdered cashier 3 years back so why the sudden belief that Jeremy had to have been innocent, coming 3 years too late?
Final reel has some very satisfying, well-established by prior foreshadowing, payoffs to the story - an extremely romantic and powerful ending plus coda. I just wish Stormy had sorted out the character motivations (and plugged that plot loophole) better.
Acting is good, and it is interesting, for porn fans and historians, that Miller, who acts in story films rather than gonzo, is one of the few small (read: normal-sized) dick practitioners in contemporary porn, where even the cameramen (Jake Jacobs who shot this movie and stars in various Nica Noelle Sweet Sinner dramas as "the older man" or father figure) have big cocks. Women are traditionally considered the exploited sex objects of porn, but what about the guys?
Maddy O'Reilly, who had an enviable 2014 of success with many plum roles, stars as Lainie, introduced with ne'er-do-well boyfriend Jeremy (Brendon Miller, a regular in Stormy movies). They have stand-up sex in the shower, with the incongruous condom worn (in line with distrib Wicked's safe-sex proselytizing policy).
He's an ex-con, who's tagged as immediate suspect in the next scene where he witnesses a convenience store holdup and shooting, with the cops arriving shooting Jeremy and letting the actual criminal (a Black man they don't see) escape.
Chad White is the trigger-happy cop Casey who shoots Jeremy when he sees him holding the gun left behind by the actual robber, who Jeremy tried to stop from fleeing. Casey's partner Alex (sympathetic Seth Gamble) finds out from the cashier victim in the hospital (before she dies) that Jeremy was innocent -the robber was Black. Crucially, Casey puts on the pressure and threats to prevent Alex from telling the truth and exonerating the dead man- Alex quits the police force ashamed of what he's covered up.
Interesting plot twists start a-comin', as Casey goes to talk with Alex, but finds latter's wife (AJ Applegate) home alone. Turns out they had an affair previously, and though AJ is dead- set against it she succumbs to Casey's seduction (and his really big dick) for a roll in the hay.
Movie jumps three years into the future, and now Lainie is working as a waitress opposite cute sidekick Tracy (Penny Pax, with her trademark glasses, and refreshingly non-gonzo for this mainstream assignment). Lainie serves as matchmaker, fixing up Tracy with diner customer Ramon Nomar (essentially playing the Manuel Ferrara role), while herself being attracted to another customer, who turns out to be Alex. She never met him at the time of Jeremy's death, so this is credible enough.
Pax's great success in bed with Ramon has her encourage Lainie to give Alex a tumble, and the duo fall in lust and love (but that's another title for Stormy to shoot, I guess). Three months later she's at his house and discovers his clippings about the Jeremy crime, and is shocked to discover that he was a cop on the scene, who she assumes killed Jeremy.
This is where a key plot element goes awry - Lainie blows up at Alex, stressing that her Jeremy could never have killed that girl (the cashier) and was innocent of the robbery, and she puts an end to their relationship. Her outburst directly contradicts an earlier scene where she reveals how betrayed she felt that Jeremy had returned to his life of crime after pledging to her that he had gone straight. Surely, she was aware of the murdered cashier 3 years back so why the sudden belief that Jeremy had to have been innocent, coming 3 years too late?
Final reel has some very satisfying, well-established by prior foreshadowing, payoffs to the story - an extremely romantic and powerful ending plus coda. I just wish Stormy had sorted out the character motivations (and plugged that plot loophole) better.
Acting is good, and it is interesting, for porn fans and historians, that Miller, who acts in story films rather than gonzo, is one of the few small (read: normal-sized) dick practitioners in contemporary porn, where even the cameramen (Jake Jacobs who shot this movie and stars in various Nica Noelle Sweet Sinner dramas as "the older man" or father figure) have big cocks. Women are traditionally considered the exploited sex objects of porn, but what about the guys?