Having a Cash Mar(c)man script means "The Romeo Syndrome" has a very low bar to surmount, but it manages to be an okay film noir. Up to his usual tricks, Cash (aka Marc Cushman) is ripping off some of the gimmicks of the fine Gary Oldman/Lena Olin movie "Romeo Is Bleeding".
Steven St. Croix (spelled Stephen in the credits) tells his story both in voice-over narration and talking directly to the camera, utterly cynical as he complains throughout the show, working as a police detective with partner T. T. Boy in a string operation targeting criminal Jonathan Morgan. A prostitute informant (April Adams, a blonde with fake tits) is working with them, but St. Croix sells her and his partner out for money provided by evil Morgan.
The film noir mood and attitude is well-established by director Jim Enright, but the promise of humor with Morgan and St. Croix in his cast, after Enright's series of classic porn comedies starring the duo like "Western Nights" and "Haunted Nights" for WIcked Pictures, never materializes in this Sin City feature. Instead, it's mostly sex, with Jessica James playing St. Croix's wife and earning breast in show honors (while Melissa Monet is always great to watch, here early in her career.
St. Croix's character is named Romero, but Morgan nicknames him Romeo, a pointless script device by Cash to remind us of the movie being ripped off. A twist ending that resolves an earier flash-forward (and red-herring scene) is too pat and unconvincing, an obvious defect in Cash's who-cares? Script.
Steven St. Croix (spelled Stephen in the credits) tells his story both in voice-over narration and talking directly to the camera, utterly cynical as he complains throughout the show, working as a police detective with partner T. T. Boy in a string operation targeting criminal Jonathan Morgan. A prostitute informant (April Adams, a blonde with fake tits) is working with them, but St. Croix sells her and his partner out for money provided by evil Morgan.
The film noir mood and attitude is well-established by director Jim Enright, but the promise of humor with Morgan and St. Croix in his cast, after Enright's series of classic porn comedies starring the duo like "Western Nights" and "Haunted Nights" for WIcked Pictures, never materializes in this Sin City feature. Instead, it's mostly sex, with Jessica James playing St. Croix's wife and earning breast in show honors (while Melissa Monet is always great to watch, here early in her career.
St. Croix's character is named Romero, but Morgan nicknames him Romeo, a pointless script device by Cash to remind us of the movie being ripped off. A twist ending that resolves an earier flash-forward (and red-herring scene) is too pat and unconvincing, an obvious defect in Cash's who-cares? Script.