Erotika M2M: The Art of Striptease and Sensual Dancing

Dexter Castro

There are many things "wrong" with this straight-to-video erotica, beginning with the premise. Another instructional on the art of sensuality? We never really believed it when the trend started, did we?

But the things that are wrong are exactly what's enjoyable about Erotika M2M. I have come to love the fake premise of teaching something as an excuse to showcase male bodies. It's terrific. They can teach applied physics with stripping professors, and I'm there.

If you've been wondering where the hell Pinoy camp has gone to, look no further. Erotika M2M is not a clone of the slick Viva Hotmen productions, but almost a bad simulacrum, a refreshing send-up. It looks cheaper and more naive, funnier and on a class of its own. The choreography here is straight out of the gayest dance number from That's Entertainment, 1980's -- tacky, cheesy, an exercise in overacted "gracefulness". The romantic episode, especially, is set to an unbearable, sappy song, and it would have been a pain if it weren't also hilarious. There's also a synth tune somewhere that's bogus rock with bogus 'tude. In an office interview lap dance number, the boy applicant pulls down his pants to reveal... a scary bright ugly-orange brief. The boss pulls down his own pants to reveal... more or less the same brief but blue. That, my friends, is inspired campiness. A number in which all the boys, buff-naked, gyrate behind wooden crates is also so outrageous, it's awesome.

The boys (Dexter Castro, Gael, Ivan Maxwell, Seff Posadas, and Rojer) are cute but rather ordinary, and the hotness lies in the trainwreck spectacle of ordinary boys doing extraordinarily limp flights of showmanship. They're ultimately lovable.

If there's one fault I can't easily forgive, it's the videography. I often found my eyes straining for clarity. The shadows that cloak the delicate body parts are garish. A tease is supposed to make good on a show. Even if it doesn't show us what we want to see, what's onscreen should look good enough for us to stay glued. But the more important question is: Why hide the goods at all? If this disc included a behind-the-scenes feature similar to Masahe M2M (from the same makers), with wall-to-wall naked flesh, it would be unquestionably satisfying.

Erotika M2M is flawed and an easy target for whiners, but it actually shouldn't be missed.

GRADE: B