While I acknowledge that there are people who want elderly women, unkempt teen boys, or even a Eugene Levy lookalike in their porn, I will aver that very few viewers want to see all of these people recline together on a couch while a mainstream porn-star diddles and jerks off other mainstream porn actors. Think about it: at some point, a casting director for this movie probably uttered the words, "Can we get somebody whose dark roots are more obvious?" This sort of demographic representation may well be important in commercials, but I'm not sure that it always works in pornography, even the instructional type. Now, this sort of "average people watching the action" thing may well make you feel more comfortable watching an instructional on how to give great handjobs, but my personal feeling is that the style of the instructional scenes seem deliberately crafted to feel hokey, unsexy, even creepy at times, and mimic the worst parts of outdated defensive driving videos.

All of this doesn’t necessarily take away from the quality of the advice Penny gives. She begins the video with a brief discussion of lubricants and their proper applications, follows with an explanation of the female anatomy using a rather unappealing diagram, and then performs a demonstration of how to stimulate a woman with the help of Harmony Rose. For those viewers who don’t know much about the different types of lubricants, the video is worth watching if only for that brief portion. I’ve seen more than my fair share of instructional sex videos, and while Penny didn’t offer a whole lot of advice I hadn’t seen before, she absolutely brings up some points worth knowing.

That said, the entertainment factor was again undercut by the bizarre stylistic commitment to the high-school sex-ed video feel. I found myself wondering why one would use a 2-dimensional drawing of a vagina to explain the female anatomy, only to show a real (and much more attractive) vagina during the demonstration portion of the video. It has always been my understanding that people depicted in sex education materials are always exceedingly unpleasant to look at because, according to some unspoken principle of public education, the difference between pornography and educational materials hinges on the attractiveness of the individuals depicted. One of the great things about the Tristan Taormino educational videos, however, is that they are pornographic! In this humble reviewer’s opinion, Taormino and Flame would do well to abandon all tropes and materials derived from other educational videos and stick to making education look sexy.

After finishing up her explanation of techniques for stimulating women, she moves on to a discussion of the male anatomy using diagrams. The use of the diagrams in this case were at least slightly more helpful as she deals with both circumcised and uncircumcised penises, which would not be possible using one male performer. Enter Justice Young. Penny talks briefly with Justice about his likes and dislikes before performing a demonstration of handjob techniques using his penis as a model. Penny brings a lot more variety and creativity to this demonstration than she did with her earlier demonstration with Harmony Rose, and I’d recommend this portion of the video to any woman looking to expand her sexual repertoire.

At the conclusion of Penny’s demonstration with Justice Young, the video moves from the question and answer, educational video format to three more standard, staged scenario porn scenes bolstered by voice-over commentary and instruction by Penny. In my opinion, these scenes make Penny Flame’s Expert Guide worth watching. Not only are the scenes sexier, more pleasing to watch, and relatively devoid of awkward and cheesy dialogue, but the techniques the performers use get more creative and educational. At one point during the first of the three scenes, Amber Rayne demonstrates a technique I’ve never seen or even heard of before by humping Daniel’s hand while he holds it against the center of his chest in a sort of karate-chop position. I realize that may not sound sexy as I’ve described it, and in fact may sound hilarious to watch, but I actually did find it very sexy.

The scenes also incorporate the use of a few different toys, and two of the three also incorporate vaginal intercourse. I was a little disappointed that a video about using one’s hands to please one’s partner didn’t even address anal play, but no porno can be all things to all people. The three scenes present plenty of variety, right down to the bodies of the performers, and all performers seemed to genuinely be enjoying themselves. That shouldn’t be too much to ask from a porno, but it often is. That alone is enough to make Penny’s Expert Guide to Handjobs for Men and Women worth a watch.