Let's face it: Good intentions are often not enough. My expectations as a viewer are reasonable: I simply want to be entertained, and possibly even enlightened along the way. If the cameraman had the flu, if stage time ran out, if there's only twenty cents left in the budget for post-production ... frankly, that's not my concern. All I'm interested in is the final product... because that's all you're going to see.

I give you the preceeding tirade because it helps assuage my guilt twinges at bestowing a measly two A's on this well-meaning but ultimately boring feature from the legendary Gloria Leonard.

As detailed in a behind-the-scenes piece in December, Vow Of Passion concerns the trials and tribulations of a married woman (Savannah), whose loutish, Born Again husband (Long) refuses to grant her sexual satisfaction. Adding insult to injury, the jerk is having P.J. Sparxx as a side dish, forcing Savannah to make some Life-Altering Choices — like sleeping with her boss, sensitive, condom-wearing Tom Byron.

This is hardly revolutionary material, but there's enough talent involved in this project to create an enjoyable couples vid. But somehow, something just didn't jell. Savannah appears to be experiencing PMS instead of marital troubles, and the rest of the cast, to be charitable, just seems to want to go home. Also below par are the tinny sound and muddy videography, which render most of the (pedestrian) sex even less palatable. Worse, a fine fantasy sequence is virtually ruined by the use of an amateurish exposure effect.

Knowing that Ms. Leonard does not take her role in the industry as cavalierly as manyof her colleagues, we can only assume that something must have gone awry from her original vision... but the fact remains that Vow Of Passion is simply another shelf stuffer, when it could have been much more. Keep on plugging, Gloria; we need you!