This 2001 flick is a step above the usual MRG late night movie, but it's just as hot. Holly Sampson is nude in two scenes, before she gets thrown off a balcony, and Shannon Tweed has a pretty good nude body double for her scene. Flower Edwards is a stripper, and Katie Lohmann is another topless murder victim. Look for two hot sex scenes with Nancy Vee and Mary Shannon.

Porno vet Holly Sampson got a marquee softcore career going by following in the footsteps of Sylvia Kristel, Laura Gemser and Krista Allen and assuming the role of Emmanuelle at the turn of the century. Though the franchise had been plundered excessively over its thirty year history, erotica producer Alain Siritzky returned to the well once again, this time with the sure hand of writer/director Rolfe Kanefsky guiding the story and the result is an amusing, often steamy trifle. This title is one of seven that were created out of the Emmanuelle 2000 series, in much the same way Siritzky's Click, Adventures of Justine and Emmanuelle in Space series were handled.

But while the story is engaging enough - this installment bears a very strong resemblance in theme and tone to the Click series with people getting "turned on" in inconvenient situations by an advanced piece of technology - the casting of Sampson seems suspect as she doesn't have the same kind of presence as her predecessors. This isn't to say she doesn't give her all during her scenes - quite the contrary in fact as she makes Krista Allen's version of Emmanuelle seem downright demure. Rather it's just that Sampson doesn't radiate beauty the same way as the others, something that Emmanuelle is most known for in all incarnations.

Still, the movie overcomes any perceived casting errors by simply filling the supporting cast with a laundry list of well-known skin stars including Shauna O'Brien (post-boob-job and here portraying a wheelchair bound scientist), Brandy Miller (as a thief who should've been in A Chorus Line, Griffen Drew (with that regrettably crimped hair again), porno great Nancy Vee and, in a wacky end sequence, softcore heavy hitters Amy Lindsay, Regina Russell, Gabriella Hall and Jacqueline Lovell. That ending scene, where Emmanuelle's lust-inducing necklace transmitter goes global also features several gorgeous ladies this reviewer was unable to identify, so those with sharp eyes and an encyclopedic knowledge of the genre are invited do some ID'ing! Just toss the unknown's names into the comments area.

Like all Siritzky productions, there are also several lesser-known (but no less beautiful) ladies that get into the action. The highlight here is the sharp, stunning Cecilia Bergqvist who gives a piano player a show of his own during her temperature raising sequence (which also features a quick turn from an "early in her career" Tiffany Shepis.

With so much going on, how can one not recommend Emmanuelle 2000: Emmanuelle's Intimate Encounters? It's a fun, sexy romp that bests many a previous installment story-wise even if it doesn't with the casting of the leading lady herself.