Here’s a film from MRG Entertainment/Mainline Releasing that, like SECRET LIVES, has no writer credited to it, either in the film itself nor on the IMDB page. But I did notice that April White and Edward Gorsuch are credited as executive producers, and those two have written plenty of softcore films and TV shows before, so my guess is that they wrote this. It was directed by Rex Ryder and released in 2004.

The film stars Jessica Drake as a young woman named Jeanette Barker (at least that’s the name she uses throughout most of the film), who has just transferred to a new college. But at the time it’s still three weeks away from the semester beginning. We learn that Jeanette is actually the daughter of a man who used to be the science professor at this college. 10 years ago he was accused of rape by a student and arrested. The scandal leads to the professor killing himself. Jeanette has now come to town with the goal of clearing her father’s name and restoring his reputation, as well as punishing those she feels is responsible for framing him.

Right there is it a very intriguing, if not wholly original, premise (I could probably find over a dozen Lifetime Original Movies with that theme). The problem is that the film takes too much time in explaining exactly what Jeanette’s plan is, and even then the way she pursues her goals seem rather haphazard.

Jeanette starts off with one apparent goal. She wants to buy back the house near the campus that her father used to own. Right now the house is on the market and Toni, the president of a local sorority, wants to buy it to make it the new sorority house. But she has to wait until the semester starts when she can try to convince the national leadership of the sorority to pay for it. So, in the meantime, Toni, who is played by Beverly Lynne, seduces the real estate agent, Jack (played by Timothy Stempien), to convince him to stall any other potential buyers of the house until she has time to get it.

Brad Bartram plays John Cardinal, who used to be Jeanette’s father’s assistant. After Jeanette’s father killed himself, Cardinal stole all of his work and took credit for it, and is now the head science professor at the university. Jeanette also suspects that Cardinal had something to do with framing her father for rape. Cardinal is in the process of trying to get a new science building built in his name on campus, but a major donor has recently backed out, so he’s trying to secure new funding.

Glen Meadows plays Lance, another local student (at least I think he’s supposed to be a student). It’s made clear from the start that he’s a big “player” when it comes to ladies, and when he sees Jeanette moving into her house, which is near the current sorority house that Toni lives in, he introduces himself to her an inexplicably he quickly becomes her confidant, as she reveals her real motives to him and he agrees to help her just because he likes “stirring up shit.”

Other notables in the cast are Felicia Fox as Sherri, the only other sorority member we see in this film, who is also staying at the sorority house with Toni, Gerald Smith as the straight-laced Dean of the university, and Julia Kruis as the Dean’s secretary Claire.

The story suffers from the fact, as I state, Jeanette’s plan is unclear through most of the film, as is how she intends to achieve it. At one point a goal is to convince Cardinal that Toni has a crush on him, even though she hates him in real life (for a reason that later ties into Jeanette’s history), and even convincing Sherri (whom we’re told is jealous of Toni and wants to take her place as sorority president, although that subplot is never followed up on) to disguise herself as Toni and have sex with Cardinal (isn’t that rape?). And then despite Lance’s blatant womanizing and lack of any real build-up between them, Jeanette and Lance begin a relationship while plotting together.

It’s kind of a mess. But it’s saved by two factors, the first that this a decent cast. I was, of course, familiar with the work of Beverly Lynn, Glen Meadows, Julia Kruis, and Brad Bartrum, who are all good actors, but I also impressed with the rest of the cast. Jessica Drake, whom I’d never seen before and have learned is an adult film actress, does a great job carrying the lead in this film. I don’t know if she’s done much more softcore work, but she certainly showed a lot of potential as a “mainstream” actress here. The same goes for Felicia Fox, who is also an adult actress.

And the second thing that saves this film is the nine sex scenes, all well shot, realistic-looking, and hot! Eight of them are b/g, and Glen Meadows earns his check appearing in 5 of them. He has a scene each with Felicia Fox and Julia Kruise and three scenes with Jessica Drake. Brad Bartrum and Felicia Fox also have a scene together, and Beverly Lynn has two scenes with Timothy Stempien, and then the ninth sex scene is a lesbian scene with Beverly and Felicia.

So, it could have been a little better storywise, but if you’re looking for some erotica to spice up you night, Scandalous Sex should get the job done. Chacebook rating: FOUR STARS

Jason Majercik is selling this Unrated DVD for $16.99. Email him at quinn_nash@hotmail.com for his softcore inventory list