Amy's O (DVD)

Best-selling self-help author Amy Mandell (Julie Davis) is having a crisis. Her book is about why relationships are doomed to fail yet she has never been in a real relationship, nor even had sex in several years. Her controlling lesbian publicist (Caroline Aaron), bickering parents, and a pair of smugly married friends (Mitchell Whitfield and Jennifer Bradford), all urge her to find a man. To everyone's surprise she falls for a handsome radio "shock jock" (Nick Chindlund) who interviews her on his breast-obsessed talk show. Their unlikely romance calls her role as a feminist--and his as a sexist pig--into question.The film works best when it's focusing on Amy's intense sexual frustration, which is nicely intensified through a pulse-raising pop-music score and frantic voice overs. Its many ANNIE HALL-style touches (Davis regularly addresses the camera), incessant psychological observations and frenetic camerawork also help keep the film's energy high. It's the second feature from writer-director-producer-star Davis (I LOVE YOU DON'T TOUCH ME) who got her start as an editor of soft-core porn. Vincent Castellanos is a comedic standout in a small role, and Jeff Cesario is good as a sexually frustrated Catholic priest who hears (the Jewish) Amy's steamy confessions.