The Chauffeur's Daughter

His status at the top of his profession permitted director Paul Thomas to shoot this trivial project on film, and despite a cast of quite arousing big-bust brunettes (almost too many for comfort), he fritters away the chance to make a quality feature in line with his earlier triumphs. Instead, it's just another overblown (pun sort of intended) Vivid release in a pointless "deluxe" 2-DVD package. Note that the second disk is 100% worthless.

Contract star Lanny Barber is showcased, but upstaged by several of the other ladies, especially Victoria Valentino as a hot waitress (in threesome action with Lanny and stud) who might as well have been her understudy.

The script credited to Randy Stanchion goes nowhere fast, based on the corny "wrong side of the tracks" premise of many a more interesting Cinderella story. Lanny's chauffeur dad is Herschel Savage, and she's grown up with the two brothers of a wealthy family played by James Deen and Kurt Lockwood in what seems at times (only briefly, as explicit sex always takes over center stage in a hurry) a project better suited to the late James Dean, not "East of Eden" or "Giant" but something in the family saga vein.

Their mom is splendidly played by Ava Lauren, an Earth Mother (think Sophia Loren) whose acting ability and overall sexiness put Lanny to shame. Frequently thrust into the spotlight is petite Paulina James, a flat-chested jail-bait type who is seriously miscast as the chosen heiress to win Deen's hand over the audience-rooting-for-her Lanny. Like many a porn starlet, Paulina appeared in countless videos, but this was her only big role, and her career went nowhere.

Among the many errors that reduce "Chauffeur's Daughter" to mindless entertainment, much is made of the story shifting from L.A. to Paris when Lanny leaves home, only to return a year later, in "Bus Riley's Back in Town" fashion. Apart from some touristy sightseeing footage with Manuel Ferrara (dull out takes of which constitute the so-called "Bonus" on Disk Two), this transatlantic expanse to the production is bogus, more of a come-on than valuable content.

But worse is the set of plot twists in the final reels, in which the cast's acting (particularly that of principal players Deen, Paulina and Lanny) become atrocious and PT's direction forced and unconvincing. For the umpteenth time, a promising piece of Adult Cinema caves in after the XXX scenes are in the can, in a rush to hastily wrap things up. Yes, even shooting on film with decent budget and script the modern Porno Axiom of "only the hot sex matters" takes over, to disastrous effect.