The Girl from B.I.K.I.N.I.

You either like the endless array of sex comedies ground out by Fred Olen Ray or you don't. I enjoy these silly pictures, which manage to vary the format just enough to keep one coming back for more.

The ad copy makes this sound like an Austin Powers or MODESTY BLAISE romp, but it is not that colorful, probably due to budget limitations. Beverly Lynne is the attractive spy who when not humping is sent on a mission to the far east to deal with a dragon lady played by Gianna Lynn. I found this confusing at first, since I expected the top-heavy blonde porn superstar Gina Lynn to show up, but we get petite Filipino porn star Gianna instead.

She has a lesbian thing going with her white slave Lacie Heart -very appealing in softcore, though her metier is XXX. Similarly, the remarkable Rebecca Love has some outstanding sex scenes here too, eschewing the explicit porn she is best known for.

Fred has this junk down to a science, using the same casts, same locations (especially an attractive house that looks like something out of sci-fi) and phoned-in dialog over & over. Sex scenes run four minutes long, just right for pay-cable. Shorter and you feel cheated (awww -I got the cut to R-rated version!), and longer means we're in the interminable world of 20-minute XXX action.

For fans of this one, I would also recommend HARLOTS OF THE CARIBBEAN, similarly cast.

This film begins in Moscow with a beautiful blonde spy by the name of "Tania X" (Beverly Lynne) in the process of seducing a Russian official and afterward photographing top secret documents while he is asleep. Although he awakens and catches her in the act she manages to extricate herself out of the predicament and returns to her headquarters with the film in hand. As it turns out, Agent Tania works for a secret American intelligence service under the acronym of B.I.K.I.N.I. which specializes in obtaining classified information for security purposes. Not long after returning from her mission in Russia she is given an assignment involving an unknown organization which is jamming intelligence communications and subsequently departs with only one slim lead which might help her in her mission. What she doesn't know is that from that point on her investigation will become even more intricate and dangerous than she ever would have imagined. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that while the overall plot had promise the fact is that the writers and director (Fred Olen Ray) failed to fully develop it further. For example, although Beverly Lynne was definitely attractive and her acting abilities were adequate enough, the decision to have one soft-core sex scene after another every 5 or 10 minutes along the way seriously degraded the overall production values as a whole. Likewise, the cheap costumes and sets coupled with some rather dull humor didn't help in that regard either. That being said, those viewers looking for something that is almost X-rated might find this film somewhat appealing but otherwise it's not really worth the time and I have rated it accordingly.

A light-hearted spy spoof with lots of (very) soft-core sex scenes, this movie is lifted well above the usual by Beverly Lynne's ability to project a warm, three-dimensional human being you might enjoy meeting over a cup of coffee. Her character Tanya, the titular super-spy who survives into sequels and a TV series, is quick-witted in her reactions even when the script is blank or mundane and is never so intent on her mission that she won't pause for a carnal frolic, to which she brings vigor, enthusiasm, and an attitude of "this is really fun!"--not, like so many others, the attitude of "this is what I do for a living" or even worse "will Aunt Mary see this?" Lynne's comedic sense finds its match in Alexandre Boisvert as Mark, Tanya's ex from the CIA, and their scenes together are the funniest in the movie.

Unfortunately, the other actors don't seem to know that to be funny, your character has to be earnest; most of them overplay their parts and some just can't act. With good supporting talent this movie might even have penetrated the Austin Powers/SNL territory. Although the few soft-core scenes that don't have Tanya in them are pretty run of the mill, the cinematography, lighting, staging, and editing are good throughout, and the writing maintains the bright tone set by Tanya and Mark.

A super spy spoof. Well not an original idea now is it? Even with the added soft-core touch, there surely are more movies out there like that. But the movie does have some nice little moments (not those, though they might be). The characters don't take themselves too seriously which always works.

Unfortunately the timing isn't as good as it could be. Better actors might have worked better with the material given, but then again, they wouldn't have gotten down to/do it. From shower scenes, to lesbian mingling to man and woman/women getting it on, you get the lot. I skipped the scenes to watch the rest of it, because this is kicked off a series (of movies and a TV show), which was intriguing to see