Lip Service (1999)

 

Looks like a throwaway late-night cable film; however, it stars Susan Featherly.  Featherly is amazing, and from around '99 to '02 she was extremely prolific. But she left the late night erotica scene as quickly as she came (and became a successful realtor and mortgage broker).  

Linda Isherwood (Susan Featherly) is the head of Lip Service, a private detective agency.

Carla Rockford (Elina Madison) is her partner.

The third member of their team is Sam Harper (Zoe Paul) a tech specialist.

We now go to the set of a porno. Dominique Lemée (Venessa Blair) is the actress - and rather humorously gets tangled up when trying to disrobe.  She gets upset and they take a break. 

Her fiancé Julien Paris (Brad Bartram) feels she's getting too intimate with her co-star.

In the bedroom, Carla tells Linda, "When people hire a private eye they expect Bogie in a trench coat, not a babe. But because we are babes we can get the people that Bogie couldn't."

They fool around, but it's too dark and you really can't see much of anything.

Sam shows Carla and Linda her new device.  She takes off all her clothes, and yet the video of them is still on the monitor.  So where is the camera hidden on her body?

It's not where you think.  The camera is in her earring.

At that moment Julien walks in.  Sam rushes to cover up, and he explains that he wants them to spy on Dominique.  He suspect she's cheating on him with Jason her co-star - and worse, is plotting to take his fortune.

Linda "stealthily" goes to where Dominique's co-star is located - using the largest microphone ever to be used by a private investigator.

But Jason (Dave Anderson) isn't having sex with Dominique.  He's banging another porn star  (Stacy Howell) on the stairs.

But this is just the set of another porno.  The Director (John Lopez) tells Jason and his partner to cut.

Dominique has sex with Julien - but again it's too dark to see much of anything.

The Lip Service girls arrive on a photo shoot set to speak with Dominique.  Daphne (Gabriel Shayne), the production assistant, thinks they are models.  So, the ladies play along, hoping this will get them more information.

They get topless for the camera (but that's about it).

Dominique likes the girls and invites them to be part of her current porno.  Linda agrees but Carlo thinks this is a bridge too far. "There's a big difference between rolling around in our underwear pretending to be models and doing it for real in front of a video camera."

On the porno set the three ladies watch Dominique in action.

Dominique finishes her scene - and then receives a threatening letter.  She freaks out and leaves the set.

The director and Daphne are concerned the production will have to be shut down. However, when they open the door to the hot tub they are confronted with a promising sight.

Carla and Jason are having sex.

It seems Carla, who was so against this, doesn't even know or acknowledge she's on camera.

When it's over Carla says, "I can't believe I just did that!"

Carla tells Sam that this must be their little secret.  (I'm not quite sure how that's possible since she did this on camera for a movie, but okay.)

Meanwhile, Linda has sex with Dominique in a hotel room.

Linda lays across Dominique's lap. Susan Featherly's best nudity of the film.

We abruptly find that the director and Daphne are the perpetrators. Julien is able to grab the gun and turn the tables.  All is solved.

As an epilogue of sorts, Sam has sex with Jason. 

Edited and mixed using MAC OS workstations.

 CHARACTERS

Linda Isherwood (Susan Featherly)
Sam Harper (Zoe Paul) 

Carla Rockford (Elina Madison)
Dominique Lemée (Venessa Blair)
Daphne (Gabriel Shayne)
Julien Paris (Brad Bartram)
Jason (Dave Anderson)
Director (John Lopez)
Porn Girl (Stacy Howell)

RATING: ★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆ 4/10

REVIEW: Susan Featherly is great, but she's not given much to work with in this very lightweight film.  I'm not sure if there is a more explicit version out there, but this was decidedly tame. Worse still, when they do decide to provide some sex and nudity, they make the mistake of turning off the lights.  All of this might be salvaged a bit with an interesting story, but as you can tell it's as cookie cutter and unoriginal as it gets.  Skip it. For Featherly completists only (of which I include myself).