Beneath its come-on title, this sequel to Chuck Vincent's 1984 feature moves out of the exploitation film arena to a well-scripted comic look at west coast life styles.

Beneath its come-on title, this sequel to Chuck Vincent’s 1984 feature moves out of the exploitation film arena to a well-scripted comic look at west coast life styles.

The Crystal of the title, Jewel Shepard, encores as the bubbley, jiggly valley girl who heads for business school to learn how to run her mom Remy O’Neill’s hot tubs/health spa establishment. Evil Bart Braverman (convincing with beard as a prince) is conspiring to take over the business, even planning to marry O’Neill to achieve his ends. Film is told from the point of view of handsome hero David Tiefen, who’s working as a chauffeur to Braverman while writing a book about Shepard.

Under newcomer Ken Raich’s direction, film works due to the quirky touches of Brent Frieman’s screenplay. Previously wasted in purely decorative assignments, Shepard comes into her own here in a funny and sympathetic role. It’s not quite Educating Rita, but the formula of gawky ingenue blossoming is a sure-fire one.

Hollywood Hot Tubs 2 – Educating Crystal

• Production: Alimar. Dir Ken Raich; Producer Mark Borde, Ken Raich; Screenplay Brent V. Friedman; Camera Areni Milo; Editor Michael Hoggan; Music John Lombardo, Bill Bodine Art Dir Thomas Cost
• Crew: (Color) Available on VHS. Extract of a review from 1990. Running time: 100 MIN.
• With: Jewel Shepard Patrick Day David Tiefen Remy O'Neil Bart Braverman J.P. Bumstead

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