Digital Playground contract girl Jesse Jane is a thing of uncommon beauty, a breathtaking stunner who's enough to make one forget the company's former flagship star, you know, what's-her-name.

Her coming out star vehicle, Erotique, is just as stunning on a technical level. Beautifully produced, shot and edited with an obviously large dose of TLC, this Nic Andrews-directed couples-oriented vignette title is one of the best looking releases of 2003.

Unfortunately, the sex throughout is by and large weak, even for the couples market. Few sparks are generated in its ten scenes, some of which are jaw-droppingly flat, practically bordering on softcore fare.

More points off for misleading box cover credits that state Amber Lynn - what the box meant to say was newcomer Amberlina Lynn; Hall of Fame porn legend Amber Lynn is nowhere to be found and that's a huge difference - Felicia Fox and Aria. Unless that's Fox and Aria behind full-face masks in a party sequence, standing around while others fuck, we sure as heck didn't spot 'em.

Sex-wise, things start out promising enough as Jane, in perfect porno eye candy mode, her long blonde hair lusciously offsetting her black, leather motorcycle gear, performs a decent strap-on tango with the butchy Belladonna.

But the temperature goes south - way south - in scene two, in which the aforementioned Amberlina Lynn oh-so-lethargically diddles herself with a dil on a downtown L.A. rooftop. If porn can possibly get any softer, any less energetic than this scene, well, wake us with examples. There are several other such solo sequences in the production, all pretty equally somnambulistic.

The remaining couplings are an improvement in the heat department, but really, only somewhat. They include a Jane/Dick Delaware party scene reminiscent of Kubrick's oft-imitated Eyes Wide Shut, a Jane/Mark Davis bedroom pairing and the Jane/Jessica Jaymes desert closer. Again, all these scenes are gorgeously shot with production values to die for, but simply do not generate much heat (among other things, Jane apparently doesn't do facials yet).

Generating arguably the most amount of heat, however, is a sexy little Jane tease sequence in which, dressed again in that very becoming black leather motorcycle jacket and dark shades, she gyrates to a down and dirty rock 'n roll track (a blessed sexual relief from the more romantic New Age-ish tracks in some of the other scenes), her tank-topped chest getting doused in nipple-revealing water. Yummy.

Erotique is nominated for Best Vignette Tape; Andrews for Best Director - Non Feature.