Illustration Movie Reviews

The 2001 edition of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit video was produced to be shown on MTV, but except for brief appearances by an MTV staff person, who provides narration, the format is entirely familiar. Beautiful women travel to exotic locations, eccentric and demanding photographers take a gazillion photographs of them, and the editors of the magazine engage in a painstaking process to figure out which photos measure up to the standards of the fabled swimsuit issue. This edition of the annual video contains a brief look back at the magazine's tradition of showcasing swimsuit models as well as a segment showing some problems faced in past years (such as a capsizing boat that scuttled a photographer and thousands of dollars worth of equipment). But for the most part the camera lingers over the bodies of more than a dozen models, including Josie Maran, Heidi Klum, Daniela Pestova, Michelle Behennah, and Molly Sims. Clad in the tiniest and tightest swimsuits imaginable, the women are seen posing--and occasionally talking about how much work posing is--in locations ranging from Las Vegas to Malaysia to Greece to Tunisia. The video is, as one might expect, very professionally produced, and while it contains no real surprises, it's a suitable tribute to the annual magazine issue that has become an American institution. --Robert J. McNamara