Emily Reed (Carré Otis) is a Midwestern girl hired into a law firm. Her boss Claudia Dennis (Jacqueline Bisset) brings her and her language skills to Rio to close a property deal. The seller is stalling and Dennis takes off to chase him down in Buenos Aires. Reed takes over her dinner with wealthy James Wheeler (Mickey Rourke). Emily is soon taken in by exotic sexualized Brazil and the mysterious Wheeler.Zalman King was the ruler of late-night TV soft porn and big screen overwrought erotica during a small slice of time. The production is luscious. Rourke is perfectly creepy and alluring. Otis is a blank. She is a deer caught in the headlines. In some ways, that performance works but she is never believable as a Midwestern girl. There is good production value for a softcore porn but this is not a good movie.

This is a beautiful looking Movie with sumptuous colors and a lot of Fandango. Everyone is dressed to the 9 and 1/2's. It can't help but be appealing on the surface and reminds one of Magazine ads or upscale Feminine advertising found in Vogue or some other slickness.The soundtrack is infectious as much as the "scenery" both animate and inanimate and the Actors are equal in the eye-candy department. But, unfortunately it all goes from there in a downward spiral of very vapid dialog and not much else to help it rise from the Erotica that is its central conceit.It is sensuous enough, if that's your cup of carnality. It is never lewd, just softly explicit and not at all shy about its pre-late-night-cable nudity and sexual activity. There is kind of a back story of inhibition and hang-ups, Lawyer shenanigans and Rich Folks wheeling and dealings. But that all takes a backseat in the this Limo driven, Pretty People, decadence of fun in the sun.Overall it is very pleasant to look at and is easy on the ears, when there is no dialog, so it is not the embarrassment many Critics make out. It is a kind of interesting, voyeuristic peek at the Jet Set. We see that with all their wealth and free living, there is as much or more Neurosis there as anywhere. It is just more colorful.

. . . and won't be perfect until you can reach out and slap the characters. I wanted to reach out and slap that same tiresome, deeply annoying, manipulative expression off Wheeler's face so many times that my arm ached. I longed to slap Emily for falling for such a drip. I wanted to slap her mother for being Worst Mother in South America. I wanted to slap Jacqueline Bisset, who played Mommie, for allowing herself to be utterly wasted in this film. And Carre Otis for being such a bad actress that a parrot upstaged her. And Mickey Rourke for being Mickey Rourke circa 1990.At least I can slap myself for knowingly watching a Zalman King film.By the by, the 3 is for the pretty parrot, some good scenery, and the Carnaval players. Next time I'll just get a travel documentary.

It wasn't star quality or a blockbuster waiting to happen, but it captivates. I kept reading all these comments about Mickey's character James Wheeler being impotent and I was puzzled about how that would fit into the plot of a sexed-up movie. It's not a medical problem, his impotency, it's mental. He just doesn't want to, he's emotionally withdrawn. He's not comfortable with contact because of earlier issues where he was abandoned as a child. It's not even that bad as far as dirty scenes go, much worse exist and this is fairly tame. Except for the alleged sex scene between the two main characters being the real thing, maybe...... maybe not. It was hot, though. Mickey Rourke was one good looking man before his face got damaged boxing. The genuine attraction and feeling of the two leads came out well. Also it says on most summaries that he subjected her to test's, trying to get her to release her inhibitions. I think it was more that he was so use to playing games he couldn't stop. He saw something in her and it scared him, because then he'd have to drop his shields and he didn't know how to be without them. You could see it on his face, he didn't really want her to go off with that other man. It was a test as much for himself as it was for her, even though he pushed her to it. Watch it.