Apart from a few tiresome pay-cable versions of "Late Night" porn plus those objectionable crap "parodies", the XXX storyline feature is nearly as dead as the dodo. This minor title from 13 years back shows how they used to give it the old college try, before internet porn put a kibosh on even that level of effort.
Boasting a 6-day shoot, "No Limits" is an engrossing thriller thanks to Nic Andrews (he certainly doesn't look impressive in his BTS showing, but is a talented genre filmmaker) who takes his material seriously. Michael Crichton he ain't, but at least he tries.
Devon, right from her opening shot glistening nude in the shower, is perhaps too beautiful and Kewpie-doll perfect for the casting as damsel in distress, but certainly represents (as intended) a sight for sore eyes. She's an under-appreciated graphic designer who keeps getting passed over for promotion at her firm.
Brittany Skye is on hand to provide a hot sex scene, but she also appropriately serves as the devil's advocate to straight-and-narrow Devon, suggesting that you have to sleep with someone to get ahead.
Nic's perceptive script goes one step further on that theme, a staple of the "office politics" genre since the grey-flannel-suit movies of the '50s. In the later reels, Devon becomes a victim of circumstances as everything starts going wrong with her life, and teams up with accidental pal Jessica Drake (they meet in a stalled elevator) who lectures her on the fact that getting ahead doesn't mean just sleeping with the right people but further stabbing the right competitors in the back.
That cynical philosophy is all too true in this dog-eat-dog genre, 'cause we all know that there's limited room at the top (I guess that Laurence Harvey film remains the greatest some six decades later). I won't spoil the specific plotting here which involves the kidnapping of Devon's husband and some satisfying plot twists to provide action and thrills, but it's all based on a solid thematic foundation for a change.
I was surprised how prophetic a little movie like this could be: it directly anticipates the current "game" of "Extreme Kidnapping" that is supposedly sweeping the nation for idiotic thrill seekers. The company that popularized that game was formed around the time this movie was shot, so apparently great minds think alike.
The twist ending involving Devon and Jessica is strained but as satisfying as the usual (almost mandatory nowadays) twisted irony that ends so many mainstream popcorn movies.
Fans of today's porn will notice that Nic gets away with something now forbidden -namely there is more plot, characterization and downright acting than sex in his XXX film. It looks (visually stunning in a process called "Mini 35 Digital") and plays like a real movie, only with explicit sex included. Jesse Jane debuts in a hot lesbian clinch with superstar Jessica, but has no dialog or character for her assignment. Mike Horner lends authority and gravitas in a key non-sex role. Future big-deal Digital Playground house director Robby D. (I am not a fan of his work at all) is cast as a goonish thug, perhaps a prime example of the Peter Principle.