A CALL GIRL’S STORY: THE PURSUIT OF MONEY

Typically, prostitutes are valued for their ability to keep quiet, but A Call Girl’s Story: The Pursuit of Money largely focuses on the words coming out of hookers’ mouths, when they’re not busy shoving cocks into their yaps. And this offering spins quite the dark yarn indeed, exploring the downside of trading gash for cash. With its tinkly piano, earnest voiceover and cautionary tale, A Call Girl’s Story comes off as half porn video, half after-school special. Oddly moralistic for a XXX movie, the video follows Danni Rivers as a college-bound fuckup whose path to higher education hits a detour when she attempts to scrounge up tuition with sex work. And down the ethical rabbit hole she goes, dragging the viewer with her for the ride. One gets the sense that writer/director Jacky St. James is working through her own personal issues with this preachy effort, and it hardly seems fair to expect the viewer to finance her self therapy. The production values are at least competent, and Rivers is a lovely young thing; it’s a delight to watch her get poked. But the judgmental overtones serve as an invisible finger hat wags at the at-home spectator every time he reaches for his zipper. On top of it all, neither the story nor the acting are solid enough to deliver any real impact, so the whole thing comes off as a half-baked effort to shame johns and sex workers alike. If you’re looking for a guilt-free spank session, don’t bother ringing up A Call Girl’s Story . —P.D.R.