It was Wise Guys, 1, Wise Guys 0 on Monday night's installment of The X Show. Meanwhile, Rob Spallone says he already had gotten three phone calls about The X Show review of The Sopornos, a porn spoof of the hit HBO Mafia series, The Sopranos. But Spallone apparently gets the last laugh - with The Sopranos star, James Gandolfini, coming over to the house to pay him a visit on Tuesday.
Every couple of weeks The X Show, which airs on the FX channel [tonight it begins airing the Howard Stern spoof, Son of the Beach] reviews adult films in a segment called "The XXX Show."
The format has hosts John Webber and Ashley Degenford reviewing three adult features, and Monday night they considered the couples' film, Amnesiac from Vivid Films along with two mob-style adult pics, Revenge from Sin City and The Sopornos from VCA. The critics liked Amnesiac and Revenge, but unfortunately, the goodfellas got a one-way review to north Jersey with The Sopornos.
Besides stating the obvious that Janine and the show's newscaster Jillian Barbore bear striking physical resemblances, Webber's main problem with Amnesiac was that the movie, "must have been a p.r. move for Janine," he said. "Her name must have been mentioned in this movie 30 times a scene. It's all about Janine. It incorporates the legend of Janine - she doesn't work with guys, maybe she'll work with a guy. It's all a big tease. The ending is a big disappointment. Needless to say, she doesn't work with guys."
Ashley said Janine was hot, and for that, the movie was worth watching. Ashley also pointed out that although Janine receives a blow to the head and loses her memory, she can roller blade all over Southern California.
"Porn logic," Weber replied. "You gotta love it." Weber gave Amnesiac two-and-a-half tissues whereas Ashley gave it three-and-half batteries on the basis of Janine and would have given it a higher rating had there been more of Dee in the movie. "There was only one quick scene with her," Ashley sadly noted.
The late Joe D'Amato's Revenge from Sin City was described, succinctly, by Ashley as, "Old fashioned mob families doing old fashioned mob hits while having good all fashioned mob sex." A representative scene featured some hilarious samplings of chop-sockey movie dubbing.
"It's nice to see the casting director went down to the sub shop and got about 15 guys to come in and play Dons," Webber observed dryly. "Oh my God, what a terrible attempt at a mob picture."
"I can't stand dubbing," Ashley chimed in. Weber thought it made the feature "silly and funny" but did acknowledge that it had hot sex and great d.p.'s. For that Weber gave it three tissues. Ashley gave it three batteries. Both hosts were less kind with The Sopornos.
"If you're a big fan of The Sopranos, you're sure to love The Sopornos, Ashley said, although her review didn't quite much up to that recommendation. The review featured a bleep-filled clip of Herschel Savage hurling broad obscenities in a conversation with Tabitha Stevens.
"Man, I love Herschel Savage," Webber said. "He is the DeNiro of porn. I could watch a ton of stuff with him in it other than this movie. The Sopornos is so bad. It was quote, unquote written by James DiGiorgio and Rob Spallone....I hope these guys aren't connected cause they'll whack me in the parking lot. I thought this was a piece of crap."
Ashley said it disappointed her because she was expecting "so much more." "If you like gangster movies, you'll find it funny and entertaining," she added. Weber said he couldn't agree. "It's like a bad acting class in the New York school for swearing actors." Ashley thought the actors did pretty well with their accents. Weber gave it a one-tissue rating. Ashley said she thought the sex scenes were pretty lame and gave it 2 1/2 batteries.
Meanwhile, Spallone said, when contacted Tuesday morning, "I heard they gave it a bad review. I already got three phone calls on it. They love to call me. But the guy who plays Tony Soprano is supposed to come up here today. He's supposed to come here with his manager. I want to get a picture: Bobby Soporno meets Tony Sorprano. He saw parts of the movie in some hotel. He liked it. He came out on Friday night for the SAG Awards Sunday. He was supposed to have come here Sunday morning, but they went out Saturday night late and he didn't get up until late Sunday and had to be at the awards 3:30...but one bad review ain't bad."
