Genre: gonzo, instructional

Director: Ernest Greene

Running time: 86 minutes, plus extras

Cast: Nina Hartley, Adrianna Nicole, Vicky Vette, Sandra Romain, Mika Tan, TJ Hart, Alec Knight, Chris Cannon, Bryon Long, Evan Stone

THE FEATURE

Following such focused fare as "Nina Hartley's Guide to Better Fellatio" and "Nina Hartley's Guide to Strap-On Sex," veteran performer Hartley continues her entreprenurial efforts and commitment to brand identity with this latest "Guide to ..."

Here, "sex party" is defined as a person having three to five partners of the opposite sex simultaneously; what differentiates the gathering from a gang bang, Hartley explains in an interview included on the disc, is that the lone woman or man is in control at all times and calls all the shots. The participants will be so excited to have been chosen, she says confidently, that they'll do whatever the object of their attentions says.

During her 23-minute opening lecture, Hartley -- seated on a leather sofa, wearing lingerie and glasses and accompanied by blonde actress Adrianna Nicole -- instructs the viewer in how to prepare for a sex party, what to expect, how to avoid personnel problems, what to serve as snacks, and, naturally, how to demand oral or anal attention at any given moment. Hartley is a natural, energetic speaker, but Nicole delivers her occasional comments as if she's an eighth-grader giving an oral report.

At any rate, the long non-sex intro does leave you highly anticipating Nina's demonstration, and she doesn't disappoint. The video cuts to Hartley introducing two porn performers she has worked with before, Alex Knight and Chris Cannon, and one she hasn't but is all excited about, Byron Long. A fourth guy was unable to make it (he had something better to do?), so Hartley calls in actress TJ Hart, who mans a strap-on throughout the scene. (She never touches the guys.)

Hartley gets right down to it, looking at us and imparting a few final thoughts before turning her tongue to Long's big black tool. She happily switches over to the other guys' joints while explaining that she really likes to suck balls while watching the men beat off. They make it happen for her.

Our congenial host proceeds to fuck all three guys in all positions, lets Hart lick her and dildo her up the butt, and ultimately enjoys extended DP with the men. (She taps each on the back when she wants a switch.) A stickler about safe sex, Hartley has the boys cum on her tits rather than in any orifice.

Hartley's early porn career was in the pre-gonzo era of feature films and videos, where she was certainly hot but also slightly demure and unkinky. Now in her late 40s, she says in her interview that she's hornier than ever, and in her sex sequence she grunts, groans, slurps and cums unabashedly. There's lots of laughter by all as well.

Providing equal time, the next section of the feature spotlights one guy, Evan Stone, and four girls: Vicky Vette, Sandra Romain, Mika Tan and co-host Adrianna Nicole, who proves to have considerable oral skills after all. The girls are all convincingly into Stone and each other, and the well-hung Stone is ever the trouper. But there's nothing remarkable here.

The main program ends with Hartley and Nicole back on the sofa for some closing thoughts, a la Jerry Springer.

THE DVD

Picture and sound

This gonzo video feature looks decent enough, though the lighting seems to turn most of the performers a shade of orange during the sex scenes. The picture is full-screen and the sound is Dolby Digital.

The main menu carries a still glamour shot of Hartley, while the scene menu offers full hardcore motion.

Extras

A bonus scene is culled from "Florida Girls: Sunny Side Up," and it stars Megan Jones, Felicia Flint and Jason. It's a 20-minute sequence, in which a waitress serves herself to a couple, but the actors seem disengaged with each other. To paraphrase Al Pacino in "Dog Day Afternoon," I like to see people kiss when they're getting screwed, and that doesn't happen here. This scene, unlike the feature, is in anamorphic widescreen.

A behind the scenes featurette, lasting a half hour, shows a girl who's not in the feature, and others who are, preparing for a sex scene. Nina and the guys also chat casually in the kitchen, fully clothed.

In the 17-minute Hartley interview, besides spelling out the preferred 3-to-5-on-1 sex party ratio, she explains that she took on several men at once only one previous time, early in her career.

There's an explicit photo gallery montage from the movie set to music; the stills are magazine quality.

And you get four lengthy trailers (in widescreen) that give generous looks at the action: "Tailgunners" and "The Power of Submission," both with Carmen Luvana and Kylie Ireland; "Indigo Noir," with Vanessa Blue; "The Contractor," with Luvana and Randy Spears, and "Big Ass Orgy." The latter looks like an exceptionally hot affair centered around 15 or so fuckers in a pile. Note to Nina: Please make your next instructional video "Nina Hartley's Guide to More Tail Than You'll Ever See in One Room," and put yourself in the middle of it.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The great Nina Hartley, with her famous can that you can set a glass on, hasn't slowed down at all. If anything, she is sluttier than ever, as evidenced by her segment in this instructional/gonzo hybrid. While her group-sex scene is a replay-worthy keeper, her introductory segment can probably be skipped after one viewing, and the other sex scene that fills out the main program is generic. The trailers with top talent make up for some of the disc's shortcomings. Recommended for Hartley fans and other milf mavens.