The Ultimate Pleasure

I gave Carlos Tobalina one rave review (for 3 RIPENING CHERRIES) some time ago, but lately he's been batting .000 for me, with the DVD revival recently of one amateurish stinker after another. THE ULTIMATE PLEASURE is even less polished than usual, starring untalented leads in a stupid tale.

Kristene Heller (a pretty but vapid actress this time out) and Jeff Lyle are the unhappy marrieds, introduced in fairly cryptic early scenes. Excuse for a story (never one of Tobalina's strong suits) has cabbie Jeff finding a suitcase full of money in the back seat and heading to Las Vegas to live it up with whore Annette Haven.

Most of the action makes no sense at all, such as Jeff fired from his cab company, a scene of sitting on the toilet with gag sound effects dubbing (apparently a moronic Tobalina fetish, used previously to ill effect in MARILYN AND THE SENATOR) and various pointless sex scenes.

Main narrative thread, also botched, concerns marital therapists Paul Thomas (perhaps the last guy I would see on such matters) and Nina Fause (Carlos's main squeeze miscast as usual), who spout a lot of nonsense. Typically Tobalina mounts his favorite soap box, with Paul Thomas reciting a ridiculous rant or two decrying the advertising industry and how it has corrupted our society (circa MAD MEN's era), replete with a montage of billboards advertising popular brands of cigarettes. I wonder whether Carlos made and exhibited porno movies to get rich, or merely as means to an end like George Soros and the Koch Bros. Today using their billions to fund pet-peeve propaganda.

Therapy sessions where the good docs hypnotize our hero and heroine are just a gimmick for Carlos to include his quota of orgy footage, staged as cheapo fantasies on the ugliest of sets and featuring name talent such as John Holmes, Candida Royalle, Jade Wong and Dashile Miguele in bit parts.