Grating dialogue and zipless sex are served up with minimal flair in EXPOSE, a clumsy attempt to turn three "clueless" girls into savvy, sexy political blackmailers. As if!
During a rally for Congressman Holmes (Arthur Roberts), his teenaged daughter Tiffany (Tracy Tutor) sexually taunts lobbyist Paul Decker (Kevin E. West). Meanwhile, her classmates Gina (Libby George) and Heather (Daneen Boone) survey the room and discuss "doing" older men. After Holmes's education
adviser (John Larsen) mistakes Tiffany for a hooker, he sends her a new convertible in exchange for keeping his faux pas a secret. The gift inspires Heather to bait and blackmail a city councilman (Harrison Young). United in support for Heather's cause, the girls rig up a vacant apartment with a
video camera. After Tiffany discovers Decker has a girlfriend, she vows to dupe him as well. The plan backfires when Decker takes the tape containing his dalliance with Tiffany. He threatens to ruin Holmes's campaign unless the girls agree to tape sexual encounters with political figures of his
selection. All goes well until Gina dies during rough sex with wealthy campaign donor Gregory Carruthers (Robert Donavan).
Tiffany sneaks into Decker's office, discovers he's meeting Carruthers that night, and steals the tape of Gina's murder. She confides in her father's right-hand man, Stanley Warren (Doug Merrill), who takes the tape and promises to help her. Warren is in on the venture, however; he returns the
tape to Decker, begging for Tiffany's safety. That night at the meeting, Decker kills both Carruthers and Warren, and is fatally shot by Tiffany. The next morning, she plays on the beach to restore her lost innocence.
Illicit sex and political corruption are the meat and potatoes of EXPOSE, but attempts to gain a deeper appreciation of either will be thwarted by forced teen-girl dialogue and a screenplay that plays fast and loose with the laws of time and space. Hearing flat, CLUELESS-inspired dialogue from the
mouths of actresses who appear to be of the VALLEY GIRL (1983) generation is rather hard on the ears, and anyone concerned for Heather's well-being will be confused when she suddenly vanishes from the film. Still, some entertainment can be found in the glaring wardrobe continuity problems, stage
blood that looks suspiciously like gazpacho, and an outlandish coke-snorting image (shot from under a glass table-top) which must be seen to be believed.
Fans of erotic thrillers will be disappointed by EXPOSE's skimpy adult content--except, perhaps, for that thimbleful who enjoy watching grainy video footage of half-nude "girls" romping with paunchy, aging men. Less tantalizing still are Tutor's slackjawed facial expressions during her one
lovemaking scene, which give the impression that she's in the throes of an ennui-induced seizure. To perk viewers up, a shower scene has obviously been grafted on immediately following the opening credits. A shower in the midst of a campaign rally? Perhaps it's symbolic of the need to wash away
political dirt--or simply an attempt to make up for what little excitement follows. (Graphic violence, extensive nudity, sexual situations, substance abuse, extreme profanity.) leave a comment
