As derivative as it is, the plot device of Thief Of Hearts has had many reincarnations in film history.  The last life it had in porn came about six years ago in The Passion Within with Nina Hartley and John Leslie.

Essentially, the storyline involves a prospective male lover who gains access to a woman's innermost passions via her diary, then uses that information to seduce her.  In this updated version, Steve Drake plays the "gigolo" enlisted by Raven who wants sister-in-law Victoria Paris's time completely monopolized by Drake.

Paris and lawyer Randy West (Raven's husband) are brother and sister.  Though a physical relationship between Paris and West is never stated or implied, that, plus the fact that Raven doesn't love West but, yet, is so adamant to break them apart, suggests there's more to this relationship than meets the eye.  Of course you know the little scheme's going to blow up in somebody's face.

Drake, a rich guy who palms himself off as a grease monkey, arranges to meet Paris conveniently during a morning's jog, and the fact that it worked so well for Rachel Ryan and Mrs. Johnny Carson only proves that "planned encounters" are a time-tested and effective community property device in the state of California.  Gullible Victoria wants a hard-working guy with simple tastes and a good heart.  So what is she doing in Los Angeles, one might ask.  Anyway, that's what she writes in her diary, and Drake uses some of those bullshit lines in his sales spiel.  They meet and eventually mate in a lively, splendor in the grass outdoor setting with all the camera angles pay-per-view loves.  It's probably the best encounter of the picture from an artsy-fartsy standpoint.

For those inclined to harder tastes and sensibilities, Cal Jammer (Drake's business partner) rams the shit out of Nina Suave's asshole in a garage scene that definitely cleans the carbon from the ol' sparkplug tips.  Tiffany Million, Raven's bitch goddess girlfriend, taunts her husband, West's lawfirm partner Mike Horner, in a breezy, verbally suggestive bedroom scene that displays Tiffany in competitive, mid-season form.  I still have yet to see a scene, though, where the camera fully appreciates her wondrous body.  Keep trying, people.

The "payback is a bitch" scene has husband West on an infidelity trip, nailing Raven's other gal pal Taylor Wane.  Taylor is the smartest one in this whole picture, who sees through all of Raven's petty plots, and fucking her husband seems like a natural consequence and a pretty good way to send her a message.  The West-Wane pairing is a study in polarization: West, big-boned and raw, Wane porcelain and petite.  Though Taylor gives away a few pounds and inches, it's more than made up for the horizontal position.

While Lies Of Passion isn't necessarily great drama or the last word in character study, it does serve up an adequate degree of adult entertainment with an attractive cast and couples' market-friendly sex scenes.  Definitely one to stock.