Brad Armstrong won Best Actor accolade from AVN for this prestige Wicked Pictures release, in the film (as opposed to shot-on-video) category.
He portrays a Catholic priest facing a crisis of faith, caused by the return of ex-flame Grace (Sydnee Steele) after a 5-year absence. He left her back then upon finding her in flagrante delicto with another man (Dillon Day).
Brad as director/co-writer of the feature adopts a strategy dating back to Cecil B. DeMille's string of hit movies in the Silent Era in which he depicted all manner of debauchery and licentiousness (with exploitation elements like nude scenes included) as part of cautionary tales, ending with warnings of the consequence of such immoral actions. That gimmick was prevalent among softcore pornographers in the glory days of the 1960s in order to forestall censorship, with a sexy melodrama customarily concluding with the wayward protagonists getting punished.
Brad is to be applauded for his interest in carrying on the traditional Adult Cinema narrative approach, rather than going over to the more commercial gonzo all-sex mode characteristic of 21st Century porn. But the sex scenes in "Falling from Grace" are generally extraneous, and scored with music that sounds like a cheesy porno soundtrack. For example, two of the six XXX scenes are merely prostitutes in Brad's neighborhood servicing johns, first an IR blow-job by Kitten on Joey Ray, and then a more energetic threesome involving the real-life couple Voodoo and Nicole Sheridan, with a rail-thin young Jessica Drake (before her Wicked superstardom and endless teaming up with Brad) joining in. Brad witnesses this latter sexual encounter, adding to his growing temptation to stray.
Mike Horner is most effective as a fellow priest giving Brad plenty of good advice regarding his calling and current wavering. Stormy Daniels is voluptuous as girl friend to Brad's best bud Randy Spears. Another extraneous sex scene has super-duper stars Stephanie Swift and Felecia in Sapphic embrace.
I was pleased with the end credits including dozens of extras who fill out the scenes at church, a restaurant or a Soup Kitchen Brad runs, but sloppiness intrudes in listing Randy Spears' role as "Vance", when both Stormy and Brad have called him by the name Mike in a scene of the three together. Even if the character is named Mike Vance this doesn't cut it.
Movie ends with a choice between two endings Brad shot back to back, depicting the two options facing him at the film's conclusion: whether to go back to living (and humping) with the delectable Sydnee Steele or to send her packing forever and be true to his calling as a priest. Brad put one in the feature and the other as a typical DVD Bonus Scene. They both play out in corny fashion.
