Cash Markman's "The Love Box" is an entertaining rom-com, inspired by the hit "Sleepless in Seattle". A year after its homevideo release it was re-tooled into a softcore version titled "Bra-less in Burbank", with plenty of added footage, for showing on Showtime's The Movie Channel.
Both versions' content centers on Nautica Thorn as an advice to the lovelorn columnist, working for mean editor Slick Rhodes, latter a character actor often featured in Markman's movies. The hardcore sex scenes feature her with lesbian lover Sunny Lane, as well as spotlighting her hetero friends Katie Morgan and Savannah Stern, plus fantasies involving the letter writers.
It's pleasant romance with okay humor -nothing earth-shaking but certainly satisfying Couples Romance porn.
In removing the XXX material that makes up the bulk of the original running time (explicit penetration shots and cum shots), Cash is left with the problem of fashioning a softcore version that is feature length and still interesting, as just cropping or substituting softcore camera angles of the action is usually terminally boring.
The solution is inventive: six players not in the original version are added, with new softcore sex scenes for them plus comedy by added (and) uncredited character actor/George Kaplan playing a date from hell for lesbian Sunny.
Alicia Alighetti has soft sex with Jean Val Jean, Katie Morgan has another sex scene with added actor Steven St. Croix, and Lee Stone beds Jayna Oso in the new footage. The roles of Sunny and Slick are greatly expanded, overshadowing star Nautica in the softcore version, evidently caused by her not being available for the additional photography.
Surprisingly, I was happier with the new version despite its intrinsic "censorship", as it offers more variety and concise sex scenes.
