Studio: X-Play/Adam & Eve
Director: Will Ryder
Cast: Kayden Kross, Evan Stone, Hillary Scott, Teagan Presley, Sunny Lane, Eva Angelina, Misty Stone, Shyla Stylez, Kacey Jordan, Lexi Love, Michelle Maylene, Randy Spears, James Bartholet, Eric John, Jack Lawrence, Eric Swiss, Thomas Ward, Brad Hardy, Kenzi Marie, Chastity Lynn, Farrah Foxx, Dino Bravo, Barry Scott
X-Play’s newest film (following last week’s “Monday Night Football”) continues the company’s diversification into porn comedies that aren’t based on a particular show. This one draws broadly from “Airplane!” with a healthy dose of Jim Holliday’s ensemble pornos of the 90′s (Holliday gets namechecked in the movie) as well as Digital Playground’s recent successes in occupational porn, “Cheerleaders,” “Babysitters,” “Nurses,” and “Teachers.”
A co-production with Adam & Eve like last year’s Zero Tolerance/A&E matchup “Rollerdollz,” “Flight Attendants” tries so hard to please that it collapses with the effort. Such a large cast means not enough room for everyone to shine, and the story is so needlessly convoluted that you will actually become stupider while watching it.
Q. But Grams, surely you’re not saying that you would fault a porn movie for a poorly-executed story. Isn’t sex all that matters?
A. While sex is all that matters, at least at this point in our lives, you should probably just buy ten copies of “Flight Attendants,” watch each one, and feel your IQ drop by ten points each time. Then you will be this movie’s target audience, and will support X-Play’s future filmic endeavors.
Multiple uses of flashbacks and dream sequences are neither effective nor funny, the theme song is grating, and the numerous gay and black/urban poor jokes made by and at the expense of performer James Bartholet and openly black performer Misty Stone try too hard to be outrageous and fall flat. It was often amazing how “Flight Attendants” made two subjects that are normally hilarious – race and sexual orientation – unfunny while trying to be “broad.”
Speaking of broad, let’s talk about the sex.
X-Play has assembled an all-star cast and we slog through way too much plot before any cast members commence to fucking. While there are standout scenes between Shyla Stylez and Randy Spears, the newly-returned Hillary Scott and Barry Scott (no relation), and Kayden Kross and Evan Stone, we don’t see nearly enough of Sunny Lane, Eva Angelina, Teagan Presley, or Lexi Love. And, in an industry where people don’t need much of an excuse to have sex, “Flight Attendance” manages to strain credulity.
I think X-Play in particular and parodies in general need to take a vacation.
We know the recent difficulty of making money in porn, and part of the current marketing strategy involves having numerous products on the shelves. X-Play is also playing two sides of the field by releasing movies through distributors Adam & Eve as well as Hustler. But it seems that a company that can make such note-perfect parodies like “Not Married with Children” and “Not the Cosby Show” may have extended its reach this time; “Flight Attendants” did not need to be bad.
Portions of this review also appeared on Fleshbot
Gram Ponante is America's Beloved Porn Journalist
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