'Hot Sluts', There's Nothing Wrong With Them

I love hot sluts.

I mean, I love Hot Sluts, the new web series by A.D. Miles at Atom.com. There is so much quality to this throwback sexploitation series about bad-girl cocktail waitresses in a nightclub, it’s hard to know where to begin.

Let’s start with the acting. I was totally blown away by how EVERYONE hits the tone perfectly. This is no small feat when parodying a genre that’s almost a parody of itself, the women-in-prison film.  Alison Brie from Mad Men plays the part of Amber, the show’s lead character, a just-off-the-bus Midwestern girl with just the right amount of innocence, naïve ‘passion’ for dancing and sex appeal. As Miles explained in Tubefilter’s previous interview regarding the launch of this show, she’s “A real pro, she came in and got the joke and gave a terrific performance all while wearing a very skimpy outfit. Not an easy task.” Bearing ample cleavage and getting guffaws over gawks shows serious talent (entendre intended).

Her performance stands out only insofar as it’s the lead, but honestly, from gun-toting club owner (nee prison warden), Sandy Martin – who is so brilliant I am truly at loss for words – to the simpleton, BJ-loving busboy poet, Kale, played by the impossibly good looking Zach Abel, who hits every joke with perfect pitch (watch episode 3 and you’ll see what I’m talking about). I want to give a shoutout to everyone, but I’ll give you just two more for comic timing and tonal genius, Angela Sarafyan as a Yugoslavian cocktail waitress with a mean penchant for ‘nut-shots’, and Shvonna Lavette who you’d swear just stepped out of Coffy or some such blaxploitation flick as another bad attitude cocktail waitress, both displaying amazing delivery of some choice dialogue.

Okay, one more, but in fairness it’s a perfect segue: Beth Dover, as Nikki, the club owner’s daughter with stick firmly lodged up her ass, drops some the best one-liners in the series, like when she tells Amber she’s “…just a tragic ending waiting for the right dumpster to be found in.” Which brings me to the writing which is brilliant (segue complete). Miles and fellow writer Joe Lo Truglio have a very clear point of view and a deep understanding of web television.

Keeping the episodes short, mostly under four minutes; storylines simple, like the need for a bigger mirrorball to get the dance floor hopping; and sharp dialogue with great one-liners like doorman/bouncer Terrell’s, “Yeah, you’re on the list…the list of nerds who ain’t never gonna step foot in this club!”– again, another great performance by Phil Morris (whom you might remember as Jackie Chiles from Seinfeld – yes, he’s still hilarious). Oh, and great action from catfights to knifings to the aforementioned nut-shots, there is no B-movie leaf left unturned. All of it servicing the tightrope parody these folks are walking. Never once losing the joke, disrespecting the genre or their characters.

This same clear point of view carries into all facets of production: source music, costumes, earnest over-the-top perfs, titling, lighting and even the saturated flat video quality are all straight out of eighties porn and B-movies, just the way it should be, just the way all of life should be. It’s just so much fun I can’t stand it.

Also directed by Miles, he really pulls off the task of maintaining the tone with every one of his actors, his camera angles and editing. It comes off so effortlessly that you might not realize just what a talent he’s displaying here. Sure, he’s lucky enough to be well-connected, also an actor who has been on Reno 911 and in the recent Role Models among many others, so he can get very talented people to help, but he puts them to great use and we love him for it.

There are five episodes so far with quite a cliffhanger on the fifth, so I can’t wait for the next installment…if there is one. Yep, I said it. According to Miles they are waiting for an audience reaction to the series, which launched in totality on May 26th. Miles explains they wanted viewers to “see the whole story in one sitting” and that if the reaction is good, they will produce more, the ultimate goal being building an audience online and then hopefully transition it into a television series. So, please my friends, watch this show and tell your friends to watch it, so we can all have the privilege of even more Hot Sluts. We can never have too many. Trust me.