Sharing credit as side-players in nearly 20 films, 80s porn studs Francois Papillon and Nick Niter finally get their own headlining vehicle in TRADING PARTNERS, which sets them off to a luxurious cabin in the woods with girlfriends Deva and Martina for a weekend of fun, relaxation, and maybe even a little partner swapping!
The first 20 minutes of this low-budget-but-effective production play expertly, with the couples arriving, getting a tour of the place courtesy of proprietor Billy Dee (remember those days before AirBnB?), then changing into the skimpiest of bathing suits for a swim in the enormous back-patio pool - a perfect bit of Skinimax-style tease before the film dives headlong into explicit sex.
With the guys beating a retreat to check out a sports match on the radio, the girls are left to their own devices, and end up making love in a sensuous fireplace encounter, discussing their mutual attraction for each other's mates. Just when it seems the film has perfectly seeded the prospect of partner-swapping, however, it jarringly switches to everyone telling stories of their first sexual encounters. I don't know if this was supposed to be a gambit to warm up Papillon's more reticent squeeze Martina, but it's the first (though less problematic) of the film's two major blunders, deflating the escalating sexual tension with what seems like a diversion.
Thankfully, the movie recovers by delivering a series of four more or less scorching sexual encounters, which go a long way toward ameliorating any issues with the subject - it's hard to begrudge a detour when the byways are this sizzling. Things start with an all-right backseat encounter with Deva and a young paramour, then take a turn for the bizarre in Niter's sequence, which finds him losing his cherry to prostitute Erica Boyer, doing a Mae West impression for some reason. The voice may be silly, but the chemistry's there, and the scene unexpectedly emerges as quite arousing, with Niter contributing two impressive pops (or possibly the same one from a different angle - I wasn't sure). He even shaved to make himself look younger, which is really putting in the effort!
Third scene finds Papillon at the age of "12 or 13" (yeah, right!), back in France with school pal Jacques. Starting out ogling a couple OUI magazines, the two end up schtupping the family maid (Lili Marlene), performing both a Shaun Costello-style dual-suck and an impressively executed DP. The guys even perform the whole scene in French, for that extra layer of verisimilitude! Fourth sequence finds Martina comforted about her newly-sprouted cleavage by tender camp counselor Don Fernando, and while it's a long scene with a slow build, it's appealing due to Fernando's seemingly genuine tenderness (though he does unwisely move from anal to vaginal, which left me worried Martina's professed trauma from the encounter might end up being an unfortunate UTI!).
While I would have preferred seeing these two alluring couples just spend the whole movie exploring different variations with each other, in terms of vamping for time, this middle section isn't bad. Unfortunately, things collapse at the climax, supposedly the long-awaited moment when everyone finally switches things up and gets to explore. Just as the couples are beginning, Dee and several companions (another maid and David Christopher, for some reason credited Pool Boy despite never being seen near the pool) show up and join in, turning the long-awaited four-way swap into a confusing seven-partner orgy that ends up rushed and totally missing the point. It's unfathomable to me how the film could do such a delicate job building sexual tension and then just throw it away with these stereotypical porn hijinks, but it does and it's a major bummer.
I honestly can't remember the last time I was this upset about any film (much less an adult film) squandering its potential, and the fact it still emerges as a winner is only thanks to its participants, typical B-players and character actors elevated to a rare moment in the spotlight. Both Deva and Martina had fairly limited careers, but are pretty and charming as the girlfriends, while Papillon and Niter have a natural, lived-in camaraderie I can only suspect must have come from some level of off-camera friendship (perhaps they were Gold's Gym buddies?). The film also seems to evince an almost equal interest in male as well as female bodies: it's rare to find a piece of straight porn where as many guys are as pleasing to the eye as the women, making PARTNERS seem like a surefire hit for couples, if only it weren't so hard to track down. It's just a pity it couldn't stick the landing, which would've elevated it to near-classic status in my book.
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