I Like To Watch

Vivid Entertainment

Genre: Vignette

Director: Paul "Chuck Lords" Thomas

Cast: Stefani Morgan, Trent Tesoro, Derrick Pierce, Staci Thorn, Van Damage, Joey, Kurt Lockwood, Jezebelle Bond, Megan Joy, Jay Huntington

Length: 96 minutes

Date of Production: 5/1/2006

Extra's: For many of you, the bonus scenes from Happily Never After, Alphabet, Kink, ECU Lexie, and Wife Swappers will be the best of the batch but I prefer material made uniquely for the show in hand (pun intended) so your mileage may vary for your needs. There was also a text biography for Stefani Morgan, 1 photogallery, spam, trailers for movies like Tera Patrick's Fashion Underground, Debbie Does Dallas Again, Emperor, and Layout. My favorite of the bunch was the 15:04 minute long Behind the Scenes by an uncredited male (Shylar Cobi?) though as it added some interviews, anecdotes, and extra sex for fans of the cast to appreciate (pretty solid music for the opener and some other parts too).

Condoms: Yes

Audio/Video Quality: I Like To Watch was presented in an anamorphic widescreen 1.78:1 ratio offering as shot by director Paul "Chuck Lords" Thomas for Vivid Entertainment. Like some of his more noteworthy titles of late, this one as shot in HD, though presented in the SD format (for now) as shot in 1080i to provide a lot of resolution supporting some of the effects (making it look more like a real movie than just a porno). The lighting was reasonably well handled (with minor exceptions in a few of the scenes that had less lighting or conversely, too much lighting), limiting the grain, video noise, and other distracting flaws seen all too often in porn these days; each vignette appearing to be shot with a nod to a slightly different "look" by cameraman Ralph Parfait. The composition of the camera angles and lighting were not always optimal this time, the washed out look making me wonder what was going on from time to time (not all of the scenes looked their best). The fleshtones were not as accurate this time but the DVD mastering was well done, making it a mixed bag in terms of visual quality (perhaps the compression ratio was set too high as the bitrate was averaging about 5.5 Mbps). The audio was presented in a 2.0 Dolby Digital offering (at 192 Kbps) with the vocals sounding flat and the music pretty decent. For some reason, the levels were lower than usual but aside from the added background noise from doing so, the dynamic range was average and the separation of the vocal track nonexistent.

Body of Review: Paul "Chuck Lords" Thomas is the alpha male director over at Vivid Entertainment having served the company for a great many years. I'll be the first to admit that when he gets the time, energy, and resources with the stars aligned, his projects can be far better than critics proclaim but he also makes a lot of throw away fuck flicks these days too, apparently picking up the slack for the other directors that have left or limited their output substantially of late. His latest release under his secondary director name is I Like To Watch; a catchy title reminding me of the mainstream comedy Being There where the lead is mistaken as a brilliant man for his limited catchphrases, serving as a modern parody of sorts that film lovers find irresistible. Sadly, this was simply a quickly knocked out set of five vignettes that could have been so much better if more effort was put into it, especially given the beauty of the lead gal; Stefani Morgan. The back cover said it like this: "Inside every pornstar there's a voyeur just waiting to watch. Chuck Lords, porn's leading reality director, delves into the true lives of porn stars as they suck and fuck their way through an average day around the house. In widescreen, hi-def voyeur-cam style, Lords lets you meet and know the true perv behind the person, in the wettest terms possible. Reality has never been so unreal." If you're still interested, here's a quick look at the scenes by cast and action, noting that there was some condom usage, albeit a limited amount:

Scene One: Stefani Morgan, the beautiful lean blond featured all over the front cover, was up first as she worked out in a home gym without any clothing on. After getting that kind of workout, she walked into the game room and interrupted Trent Tesoro's game of pool but amazingly, he did not seem to mind to much as the couple began enjoying sexual relations. They kissed and he went down on her, sharing no words as they kept it simple with the scrawny meat puppet getting some head for the cutie, resulting in them vaginally screwing as he bent her over to let rover take over and give her a bone of his own. It was safe sex but given the lighting and camera angles, it was not immediately noticeable and if she was simply performing instead of really getting into the action, she did a fine and convincing job of it. The scene was way too short for me and ended with him rubbing out a load of population pudding on her passive little ass but the homage to 1960's romantic comedy music was an interesting choice considering this was not a feature.

Scene Two: Stefani Morgan, after giving an interview on the bed in her undies, provided some heated tease by walking through the house before ending up in the bathroom with muscular Derrick Pierce. He impressed her and she crawled into the bedroom to follow his lead, the couple ending up on a bed as modern music that did not fit the slow nature of the almost seductive foreplay played in the background. He pushed her playfully to the bed and started addressing her needs with his tongue, the gal laughing as his attentions tickled her as much as made her wet. It was interesting that he spent more time going down on her than she did on him but I admit seeing her perfect little ass on top of his was a great view, even if she was not as active in the vaginal penetration as I tend to prefer. As the scene carried on, she put more effort into it though, losing herself more than usual as the wave of pleasure overcame her. A few positions later, he was jerking off to her lower abdomen, the gal smiling at the thought of the power she had over him.

Scene Three: Staci Thorn, a lean blonde that looks a bit like a younger version of the mainstream actress Laura Dern when she was much, much younger, was up next on a red couch in a matching outfit as she answered various interview questions that appeared on the screen. She discussed some anecdotes she had and was then kicking back at the breakfast table masturbating while reading the newspaper. The good news is that she looked very inviting as she did this and the bad news is she was stuck working with third tier mope squad member Van Damage; a man known best for his non-sex acting ability, however limited, than his swordsmanship. I liked her solo efforts and the unique looking toys appeared to give her a great amount of pleasure, the vibrations heard better in some parts than others. Van wasn't bad at going down on her but I'll admit that seeing her suck his nasty looking cock (the skin blemished kind that is said to be the result of a common STD; reminding me of Michael Jackson's skin condition, an image no porn fan likes if you catch my drift) weakened it for me. The vaginal sex showed him doing most of the work but the lack of a C light made it too saturated and the follow up positions seemed to show the crew on autopilot. She was passive in most positions until the ending position, a modified reverse cowgirl and I could have watched that bit for a lot longer given the appeal of her bouncing action, but the ending pop shot looked almost fake given how little there was and how long a shot covered it.

Scene Four: Joey, a sexy former contract gal for Hustler, was up next as she masturbated with toys and responded to the interview questions (remember that these were unspoken in most cases, Paul being heard on occasion as the crew could be seen lurking for those who pay attention). She diddled herself soundly and looked inviting, soon finding herself joined by sexy cutie Stefani Morgan and a surprise appearance by Kurt "not advertised on the front cover or in the credits" Lockwood. I can appreciate why a company having spent millions of dollars on good will would seek to exclude crediting a guy that goes out of his way to alienate most in the industry but Kurt isn't a bad performer sexually from what I understand and consumers might want to know if he is in a movie (some so they can avoid it altogether while others that accept the level of male talent being really limited on certain days; hence Van in the last scene). Kurt played a bartender in the house as a variety of uncredited folks hung out, Stefani and Joey getting physical in some lesbian work before allowing him to join them. They went to the office to have the scene and a few people could be seen watching them in the background as the gals took turns blowing him and sitting on his face. Stefani was the clear draw here and managed to showcase her talents nicely as the otherwise mundane action continued with oral and vaginal sex; enhanced by the trio showing some energy, albeit mechanical energy, before the facial graced Joey's clamped shut eyes for cumswapping on Stefani.

Scene Five: Jezebelle Bond, a brunette with a toughed attitude that has just recently announced her retirement, was up last with blonde cutie Megan Joy and muscular Jay Huntington when she spied them outside by the pool having some blowjob fun after her interview. This led Jay to leave Megan (who in their right mind would do that?!?) to snack on Jezebelle's perky ass as Megan masturbated; the trio going inside the house to fulfill the basic scene that followed. There was a lot of oral and vaginal sex and unlike the last scene where much of it had the third party going off on their own to masturbate when not actively engaged in the sex, this scene limited (though not eliminated) that kind of thing. The screwing was too passive and the ending pop shot took Jezebelle by surprise (making the gals laugh about it) but some post coital sucking ended it for them and the movie too.

Summary: I Like To Watch by director Paul "Chuck Lords" Thomas for Vivid Entertainment was a likable little series of vignettes that warranted a rating of Rent It for me due to the overall limited nature of the sex, the amount of fuck for the buck, and the mediocre performances in most scenes. Still, Stefani Morgan was very easy on the eyes and her fans will probably be far more forgiving of her abilities due to her physical beauty but a jaded old porn hound like me likes a bit more passion and Vivid has shown a lot more of that of late so I expect it from them more now than ever before. In short, I Like To Watch was a great idea but the movie seemed to be hampered by a mindset of the production line appeal, relying so heavily on one hotty that it missed the bigger picture. Check it out and you'll see what I mean but also keep in mind that it wasn't a bad little fuck flick for a quickly knocked off show in between Paul Thomas' better efforts (despite what he said in the BTS about giving away unwanted copies of The Masseuse, it was far better than this one could dream of being).