Rough Draft

Vivid Entertainment

Genre: Feature

Director: Bryan Xin

Cast: Savanna Samson, Scott Nails, Faith Leon, Christian XXX, Sandra Romain, Jerry, Roxy DeVille, Tia Tanaka, Pascal St. James

Length: 96 minutes

Date of Production: 6/29/2006

Extra's: Most people will enjoy the five bonus scenes offered up from previous efforts. This timthey included scenes from The Secretary with Janine and Inari Vachs; Dumb Blonde starring Sky Lopez and Krystal Steal; The Visitor with Stefani Morgan and Scott Nails; Flasher with Savanna Samson and Manuel Ferrara; and Joined at the Hip with Lacey Love, Lindsay Love, and Jack Lawrence. There was a text biography for Savanna Samson, a positions room, a couple of photogalleries, spam, trailers to Dinner Party, Sexy Young Thing, Colors, and The Female Gardener. My favorite extra would have likely been the Behind the Scenes feature credited to Sun Chen in the ending credits but it was nowhere to be found on the DVD, sadly enough.

Condoms: None

Audio/Video Quality: Rough Draft was presented in the original 1.85:1 ratio anamorphic widescreen color as shot by director Bryan Xin for Vivid Entertainment. Having seen a lot of Bryan's work in the past, primarily in the field of gonzo were he led an undistinguished life at DVSX, I feel pretty confident when I say that he has come a long way from his humble beginnings, though not anywhere close to the gushing quotes by his personal friends used on the front cover of the DVD case. Unlike the last effort of his that I reviewed, Colors (which was a vignette), this was a true feature with a story and all. The ability to cross over and properly handle different genres is growing more important as the field of porn shrinks in some ways so testing a director's versatility makes sense. In that sense, the end result here being a mixed bag. The use of slow motion and music dominating the audio track has bothered scores of consumers and reviewers alike, myself included, so when the first scene started off that way; I shook my head and wondered what happened to his normal way of doing things. The other scenes fared slightly better at times but keep in mind that this style is very hit or miss and a lot of people relying on Bryan's past will find it a bad direction for him to follow. The composition of the scenes was decent otherwise and only some issues with editing really stood out as problematic but the lighting was okay and my overall impression is that he tried to do something different and didn't quite get it right. The audio was presented in a 2.0 Dolby Digital English, with the score wildly varying in terms of quality, usually sounding generic and intrusive, though a few bits were not bad. The vocals were minimal, serving to weaken the effort for me more than a little bit, but I have noticed a trend by some directors to go this route and while it rarely works; I can't say that they are all failed efforts.

Body of Review: Bryan Xin has done some work as a director for Vivid Entertainment that has proven to be better than much of his previous work in gonzo; an admittedly tough field to stand out in these days. His latest release is Rough Draft, a story about a writer played by lovely Savanna Samson, who is challenged by a producer who orders continual rewrites of her work (driving her crazy in the process). There really wasn't a lot of story here, relying more on the heated pairs than anything else to move the action forward, but given the strength of the cast, I found it a decent flick to enjoy with a significant other on the couch with me. The story elements served to provide a baby step from the vignettes of Colors in the direction of a full fledged feature, never quite making it but certainly aspiring to do so nonetheless. The cover said it like this: "A writer's work is never done... Savanna is writing a script... a porn script... and every time she thinks it's done, her boss just can't sign off. He wants a scene change, a set change, a character change, but what he really wants is a sex act... with the writer herself. Bryan Xin, AVN's "hottest director," has "taken his game up to the next level" and Savanna right along with him in "Rough Draft." A script within a script, in a movie within a movie, all in hi-def, with facials, anal, toys and everything else a Xin (or a Savanna) would put in a script. Take one? Take one. (See, you're already talking like a director.)" If you like Savanna Samson as much as I do, picking up a copy is a no-brainer given the amount of Savanna fuck for the buck it offered. For the rest of you, here's a brief look at the scenes by cast and action, noting that no condoms were used:

Scene One: Savanna Samson, the beautiful lady featured on the front cover, was up first in a steamy scene with Scott Nails inside the living room. I wasn't keen on the slow motion or the lack of vocals but she was one of my major reasons for getting the flick and her looks carrying the scene for me until the music started to fade away (and the limited vocals started up). She was initially in her animal print dress but that didn't last long when he started making her wet with his tongue on her pussy. She clearly enjoyed his skill with cunnilingus and fingering; panting in a nearly realistic manner; giving her the energy to inhale his cock with a display of her own skills in return. The hummer led to penetrative vaginal sex in a few positions with Scott nailing her pretty hard without a distracting condom. She embraced the idea and came across as enjoying the action, even the lack of the C-light not killing the mood here as the shadows ripped across their bodies. It wasn't a very active ride for her but she looked great bent over and getting hammered, ending in the moderate load going to her fine ass.

Scene Two: Faith Leon, a gal with haunting eyes and a sweet face, was up next on the couch with Christian XXX, as they drank wine to lower their inhibitions. They kissed and she seemed to enjoy his caresses, leading to her really slobbing his knob heatedly. They screwed after that, with her tearing into the cock as she bounced on him with a sense of abandon, and him showing why he's so popular with all sorts of people (cough). She did ruin the illusion a few times by looking into the camera but her sweet look appealed as it always seems to do, ending in the population pudding being launched at her face.

Scene Three: Savanna Samson, wearing aqua underwear, and curvy Sandra Romain in a similar, though orange outfit, were up next in a sultry bedroom lesbian scene after they fought over the covers. The vocals were tossed and generic music put into their place; the ladies sucking titties and going down on each other well enough. Sandra's tan was killer and each appeared to like the action, though both also seemed to be held back too; a sign of the times in a couples flick I'm guessing. Savanna's use of a strap on dildo was cool and Sandra rode it actively, employing dirty talk to further elevate the heat of the scene before they switched roles. The vocals seemed looped once they came into the scene but the visuals were decent once they went at one another in regular speed.

Scene Four: Savanna Samson, in yet another scene that showed her looking great, was up in a bedroom for her finally scene of the movie with moper Jerry. He took his time warming her up and she responded as well as she usually does, coming off like she was getting off more than performing as he ate her slowly. Her blowjob wasn't long enough but it served to get him fully erect for the vaginal boning portion of the scene. I found this one more believable in terms of the way they screwed, a bit clumsy but passionate too. She was active and even did bareback anal with him (as a receiver at that), diddling her clitoris as she impaled her ass on his rod. He blew his load on her face at the end, with her weakening the illusion by looking at the camera again.

Scene Five: Roxy DeVille, a personal favorite of mine (and another great reason for me to pick this title), lean Tia Tanaka, and aging lothario Pascal St. James, were up last after a rewrite of the last scene was ordered by the cameo voice of Bryan (the director). The scene was already underway as the gals pawed him and each other in their skimpy lingerie. Roxy was the initiator of the blowjob but Tia jumped in for a snack too. His difficulties getting fully erect aside, the ladies jerked him off to get the desired effect, taking turns riding his meat with Roxy going first (and Tia doing some PTOGM). Tia took up where Roxy left off but wasn't as aggressive a rider, the gals doing a far better job than Pascal throughout the scene in my opinion. It ended when Roxy jerked him off on both of their faces, eyeing the camera with defiance as though she didn't give a rat's ass who saw her; having taken over before the last rewrite was ordered and the screen faded to credits.

Summary: Rough Draft by director Bryan Xin for Vivid Entertainment didn't impart any special wisdom about secrets of porn shooting or displaying him stepping up to the next level as the cover would lead you to believe but it was good enough of a showcase for the lovely Savanna Samson to warrant a rating of Recommended. If you don't like couples porn and Savanna, you might want to rent it first but the technical values served the dynamic well enough and stroke value for this type of affair was pretty good. In short, Rough Draft was almost like a rough draft of a true feature porn release, one that Bryan apparently aspires to making for the company as a mark that he wants to do something new and different. I hope he can eventually live up to the hype he has been given, though it may take awhile given some of the ideas that didn't quite work this time.