SWEET TALK

“A funny thing happened to me on the way to Vienna,” says Samson (Jeffrey Vincent Parise) towards the end of SWEET TALK.  Yeah, he unexpectedly fell in love over a phone sex hotline, at the same time the audience falls in love with an unexpectedly charming, over the top romantic, and dangerously sexy film.  I was totally caught off guard with this movie; having been lured in with the promise of a film about phone sex, instead I became the victim of a bait and switch with a film I could easily and happily play on a 24/7 loop at home.  [Note: Not until after I published this did I notice the tag line “An unexpected love story”… Perfect!]

The devastatingly gorgeous Natalie Zea plays Delilah, a phone sex operator with a passion for Russian literature.  Parise is Samson, a broke writer with movie star good looks in the midst of a writer’s block.  One night, suffering from a bit of both depression and boredom, he dials a phone sex line he finds in a newspaper.  And with that one phone call ($20 to start, $2.99 per minute after – good thing he had a credit card) both their lives are changed forever.

Far from salacious or provocative, this is actually a seriously romantic film that is as beautiful on screen as its stars.  Billed as a Romance/Drama, it is also something of a Romantic Dramedy – and here we go again with another romance tugging at my heart strings, but there seems to be a plethora of really well done, original films this year.  There is also a sprinkling of co-stars that appear here and there in the film and all are well chosen actors who play their parts perfectly.

I was mesmerized by this film, and absolutely frustrated when my screener cut out 30 minutes before the end… thankfully I got things to work the next day so I could see what happens to these great characters.  I am surprised there are only two showings set for this film, but I hope it gets a replay on Encore Day.

This story is as true as you want it to be… I want it to be true! Oh yeah, this film totally got to me.

My interview with Director Terri Hanauer.

Watch the Trailer! [A REALLY well done trailer]

Buy tickets to see SWEET TALK at Cinequest!