Jim Enright and his screenwriter George Kaplan put a lot of effort into a well-made tribute to corny New York show biz tales in "Doin' the Ritz". It displays how an Adult Movie made with sincerity can be fun and worth watching beyond the "all-sex" approach. And unlike so many big-budget/big-deal releases of the late '90s it remains unpretentious.
Wilde Oscar is opening a hotel and showroom the Ritz, named after him, and has three intrepid secretaries Nici Sterling (his real-life wife), blonde bombshell Davia Ardell and Krista Maze helping him. His foe, Tony Tedeschi with a fun accent out of Guys & Dolls is sabotaging Ritz' plans with the aid of his goofball henchman Mouse, comically played by Dave Hardman.
Period costumes and glamorous styling gives the cast a chance to create fun, stereotypical characters and there's plenty of room for their sex scenes, too. A warring divorced couple of night club stars are broadly played for maximum fun by Shanna McCullough and Jonathan Morgan.
Kaplan wrote in a role for himself spoofing Walter Winchell as a mean columnist and radio broadcaster and it's all played with just the right amount of tongue in cheek, without becoming too silly.
