The Movie
Photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders had a great idea. Shoot porn stars as they look in everyday life, then repeat the same pose, just naked and glamorous. That way, in the span of two photos, you represent the duality of porn stars' lives. It's genius in its simplicity, and an intriguing look at very intriguing people. Then, he took it even further and crafted a documentary about the photo shoots, giving the subjects a voice to go with the image.

The documentary watches as Greenfield-Sanders shoots his subjects with his antique large-format camera, and lets the porn stars talk about their work, their lives and how the two intersect. Sometimes, the stories are surprising and personal, sometimes they are just what you would expect from people who make their living having sex on camera. Together, they shape a pretty complete picture of what kind of person chooses a career in pornography. It's not an expose, but it is truthful and frequently entertaining.

Disappointingly, one of the most important names in modern porn, Jenna Jameson, does not speak during the film, and is instead talked about. On the other hand, the cross-section of the industry's talent, including legends like Nina Hartley, Ron Jeremy and Peter North, and newer superstars like Sunrise Adams, Briana Banks and Jesse Jane. Smartly, Greenfield-Sanders even reached out to the gay porn talent, allowing their stories to be told as well. The only voice not heard, beside Jameson's, is that of the people behind the camera, though some of the actors have done double-duty.

Interspersed throughout the footage are segments with the authors who provided essays about porn for Greenfield-Sanders' book, including writer/director John Waters, gossip columnist Richard Johnson and author Gore Vidal. These pieces provide an expert outsider opinion that rounds out the film nicely and give the film an intellectual edge, preventing it from becoming fodder for just another late-night stroke session. Instead, the movie is an interesting, enlightening piece of eye candy with an artistic bent.

For anyone who has seen this special on HBO: don't let the title of the DVD fool you. This is the same hour-long film you saw on TV. The extensions inferred by "The Extended Edition" are purely in the extras.

The DVD
Thinking XXX is a one-disc release, packed in a standard keepcase, with a promotional insert. In keeping with the theme of the photography, the case has a slipcover over it that shows the real-world Jenna Jameson and Lukas Ridgeston, while the cover art features their porn-world versions. It's a very nice treatment. The disc has an animated full-frame main menu, with options to watch the film, select scenes and check out the extras. There are no audio options or subtitles, but the disc does have closed captioning, and the scene selection menu has titles and animated previews of the chapters.

The Quality
The full-frame transfer on this disc is solid, with excellent color and nice detail. Obviously, there's a great deal of flesh on display here, and the skintones are properly reproduced. There's no dirt or damage that's obvious, but some slight pixilation along straight lines can be seen in places.

The audio is presented in a Dolby Digital 2.0 track, and the sound is consistently good, but there's nothing about it that will impress home-theater enthusiasts. It's simply a proper port of the television presentation, with nice crisp dialogue and a good music mix.

The Extras
HBO's included a surprising amount of extras on this DVD, starting with two hours of bonus footage from the film. These scenes are no different than what is seen in the movie...there's just more of it. Much of it, out of the context of the film, is either boring or repetitive, though some are interesting for the information they reveal about the actors. Some, which just watch the actors pose, are actually wastes of time. The footage is broken down into 29 segments (two actors share a segment), which can only be viewed separately. The lack of a play-all option is frustrating.

An hour of extended interviews from the movie is also found here, broken down by speaker, including four minutes with John Waters. Like the bonus footage of the porn stars, taking the interviews out of the context of the film doesn't work for the material. But these aren't boring like the porn star footage, as the ideas they talk about are interesting and the people themselves are entertaining.

15 minutes of footage from the New York and Los Angeles gallery openings of the photographs is up next. It's fun to play "What's he thinking?" as you watch people walk around the galleries, and then wonder who the people are, despite the DVD providing names, which are probably best known to Gawker.com junkies. The disc wraps up with an slideshow of 85 photos from the set that are actually worth checking out.

The Bottom Line
Though the film is not extended as the disc title suggests, it's still as entertaining as it first was, presenting a somewhat thoughtful look at the unusual world of porn and the people who inhabit it. Combining a making-of look at some excellent photography with insightful interviews and intelligent analysis, the film is a celebration of this uniquely American genre of film. The DVD does a nice job of presenting the film and providing a good deal of bonus footage, even if the delivery isn't the smoothest ever. Fans of adult films and those who are merely curious about what kind of person stars in them should enjoy this inside look at the people in the industry.

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*The Reviewer's Bias section is an attempt to help readers use the review to its best effect. By knowing where the reviewer's biases lie on the film's subject matter, one can read the review with the right mindset.