THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 15, 1994 TAG: 9410140080
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
O K. WHAT NEXT?
What can the movies dream up next to shock, outrage or befuddle us? With the television talk shows outdoing themselves in unusual couplings every day, the movies are having a tough time being shocking.
How about a comedy-romance about sado-masochism?
Now, there's an idea.
Base it on an erotic novel by Anne Rice, add comedy with Rosie O'Donnell and Dan Aykroyd, plus a few whips and discipline and you've got - well? You've got a mess, that's what you've got.
``Exit to Eden'' is a movie so bizarrely tasteless that it almost has to be seen to be believed. It is likely to turn out to be one of those curiosities of movie erotica ranking right down there with ``Glen or Glenda?'' and ``Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.''
Also unlikely is that Gary Marshall, the creator of TV's ``Happy Days'' and ``Laverne and Shirley,'' chose this as a project. Is the usually gag-obsessed Gary trying to tell us something about his private fantasies? If so, we wish he'd talk to his shrink on his own time.
The film is all pretty silly, but it looks pretty - and even occasionally erotic - when filmed in sun-drenched colors in Hawaii and New Orleans.
Lean, muscular and tanned Paul Mercurio, the dancing sensation from ``Strictly Ballroom,'' plays a photographer vacationing at a tropical resort known as Club Eden, photographed in Hawaii. The place is ruled by Mistress Lisa, a dominatrix who is hauled about as if she were either the Queen of Sheba or Maria Montez on a bad-hair day. She's waited on hand and foot, demanding, in fact, that good-looking studs like Paul kiss her feet.
As S and M goes, this film is strictly light fun-fantasy. The whips and such are apparently just around for effect. Mistress Lisa, played by TV's Dana Delany, takes one look at Paul and decides to forgo the rules and give him special treatment.
She eventually runs off with him to New Orleans. There are scenes of erotic playing around presented in serious tones, even though they look as if they were posed.
The audience with whom I saw this got so nervous during these scenes that they had to giggle a bit.
If you're threatened by tastelessness and deep breathing, here comes Rosie O'Donnell and Dan Aykroyd to the rescue. They play straight Los Angeles cops who go to Club Eden looking for diamond smugglers.
It seems that the only clue to the diamonds' whereabouts is in Paul's camera, so they follow him to this paradise of sexual fantasy. Aykroyd seems uncomfortable and stoops to buffoonery, but O'Donnell seems to be right at home with all the leather jokes.
She easily steals the film, which is small praise.
Marshall had better luck getting funny about tasteless sex in ``Pretty Woman,'' a bad movie that became a huge hit when it touched the right sexual fantasy for millions of people. ``Exit to Eden'' is unlikely to push the same buttons, mainly because it's so silly.
There have been news reports of trouble behind the scenes, with much of Delany's role being cut in favor of beefing up O'Donnell's comedy contributions. If so, it's understandable. Delany, who parades around in bizarre outfits, comes across about as sexy as dirty laundry.
Supermodel, Iman, who has a small role as a villainness, would have been a better Mistress Lisa. Delany won an Emmy for ``China Beach.'' She'd best get back to acting and give up trying to be a sexpot.
Billed as a ``romantic sexual fantasy,'' this film is a curious hybrid. It's more successful at mild erotica than it is with comedy, but its ineffectiveness is notable on both counts.
Marshall and his cast clearly needed a good dose of discipline. But it's doubtful that a touch of the whip or a spanking would be enough to teach them better. Only more serious punishment could possibly atone for a movie mess quite this astonishingly ``different.'' MEMO: MOVIE REVIEW
``Exit To Eden''
Cast: Dana Delany, Paul Mercurio, Rosie O'Donnell, Dan Aykroyd,
Hector Elizondo, Iman
Director: Gary Marshall
Screenplay: Deborah Amelon and Bob Brunner, based Anne Rice's novel
MPAA rating: R (whips, chains, simulated bondage, nudity, language,
eroticism)
Mal's rating: one star
Locations: Circle 6 and Main Gate in Norfolk; Kemps River, Lynnhaven
Mall, Surf-N-Sand in Norfolk ILLUSTRATION: Photo by CHRISTINE LOSS, Savoy Pictures
Dana Delany and Paul Mercurio star in ``Exit to Eden,'' which is
billed as a ``romantic sexual fantasy'' set in a resort for
sado-masochists.
by CNB