The movie centers on three kids, Frank (Michael Patrick Carter), Kevin (Brian Christopher), and Brad (Adam LaVorgna), who are at that age where they start showing interest in girls. They are completely clueless about the subject (join the club, kids) so they decide to leave their suburban paradise in search of a hooker in the big city. They don't want to sleep with her, just see her naked body, so they embark on a series of moneymaking ventures to save up enough dough to make their dream a reality. In the course of events, they stumble across a hooker, V (Melanie Griffith), who obliges them when strapped for cash. She becomes stranded in their suburban town when her car breaks down and while there, finds out her mean pimp is killed by a crime boss, Waltzer (Malcolm McDowell), who believes that she has his money. While hiding out in the town, she comes to learn more about life on the other side of the tracks, falling for Frank's dad, Tom (Ed Harris). With the criminal looking for her, she teaches the kids a bit about anatomy while trying to stay one step ahead of her pursuer.

Okay, Harris has made a number of fine movies in his career and Griffith has made a few pleasant fluff pieces she can hold up as displaying some talent. McDowell has had a much more mixed career, initially proving his talent and then gravitating towards movies no one would list on a resume (Caligula comes to mind but there are so many others too). To sum up the acting in this movie, I'd have to say that it was bad, really bad. I'm not sure if this was a result of the terrible screenplay or the poor direction but more often than not, I found myself doing a double take at some of the wooden performances here. The situations required more suspension of disbelief than a low-grade science fiction movie and there were plot holes that made me think the editor had a fight with the director and purposefully sabotaged the final product.

I'm sure there are people out there that like the "hooker with a heart of gold" scenario. For proof, just remember how the ending of Pretty Woman was altered from it's original release (Gere walks in on Roberts shooting up), but aside from the implausibility of this idea, it's been overdone by Hollywood to the point where it's a mindless stereotype. The premise of the plot, what little there was, of having kids learning sex from a hooker was borderline gross too. Heck, they could wait until they're at least 15 before buying a hooker's services (like the rest of us). The fact that the criminal interest here was so wishy-washy as to be foiled by a couple of kids (ala Home Alone) made V's plight all the more unbelievable.

So, I honestly think the dvd, which lacked any extras, had so many problems, and misused a fairly decent cast, is worth a rating of Skip It for anyone wanting a decently entertaining movie. I'm sure there are those who'll see it as a swell romantic comedy but from a critical eye, there wasn't anything worth recommending here.

Picture: The picture was presented in 1.85:1 ratio anamorphic widescreen color. It looked fair with the colors a bit off at times, video noise, grain, and minor issues with pattern distortion. There was noticeable edge enhancement as well.

Sound: The sound was presented with a choice of either 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround, or a 2.0 track as originally released. It was also average with minimal separation between the channels and no real use of the remastered track to speak of.

Extras: None.

Final Thoughts: This was one of those movies that I wanted to like but found lacking in so many areas as to make it a pain to watch. The themes comparing street-smart sensibilities versus the bumpkins of suburbia could've been handled better, the concept might've worked better with a different age focus (like Risky Business), and a host of other problems that were poorly handled here. Pass it up.