In an expensive hotel, high-priced escort Natalie enters the room of an older man. The client's idea of foreplay involves donning a baby bonnet and begging Natalie to repeatedly slap him and tell him that he is banned from watching HBO. After this turns into a sexual encounter, the client invites Natalie to sit with him and watch the same HBO programs from which she just banned him. Natalie retorts that if she does not get paid for it, she is not interested, and leaves the hotel. Meanwhile, Mitch Cooper, a 27-year-old journalist, is at a restaurant on a double datearranged by his friend JP. When Mitch's date criticizes the rampant nudity in the movies, Mitch excuses himself, goes to the men's restroom, and masturbates to pornography on his smart phone. Walking in on him, JP angrily accuses Mitch of being a sex addict and demands that he return to the table. Mitch takes a pass and leaves the restaurant alone. Moments later, an app on his mobile phone rings, signalling a strange woman who wants to have casual sex with him. Mitch goes to the woman's apartment and leaves JP to explain his sudden departure. During a later conversation, JP tries to convince Mitch to join a 12-step group, saying that his sex addiction is keeping him from developing a real relationship. Mitch responds with contempt. At a hotel bar, Mitch is approached by Natalie. At first thinking that she knows him from the sex app, Mitch is stunned to learn that Natalie is an escort. She also reveals that she graduated from Stanford University, just read a book about Mahatma Gandhi, and that a night with her costs $3,000. Although intrigued, Mitch rebuffs Natalie's offer. The next day, Mitch is summoned by the editor of the newspaper for which he writes, and fired. His boss admits that though Mitch is the paper's best writer, firing his co-workers will cause a lawsuit, and that he was clear about Mitch not sleeping with interns. Returning home, Mitch's landlord threatens him with eviction unless he settles his overdue bill. After several failed interviews, Mitch approaches the editor of a magazine. She tells him that two other writers are already competing for the magazine's open position. Immediately thinking of Natalie, Mitch says that he has a great idea for a story and is willing to write it on speculation. Intrigued, the editor agrees. Returning to the hotel, Mitch asks Natalie for permission to write a story about her. Natalie refuses, thinking that Mitch is a cop. Later that night, however, Natalie barely escapes from a client with a rape fetish. Thinking that Mitch could be a bodyguard, Natalie decides to give him a call. Natalie and Mitch meet. Mitch is stunned to learn that Natalie also runs a side business and is a math tutor for grade-school children. After also meeting her roommate, Mitch asks Natalie how she got into being an escort. Natalie responds that she had a hard time making ends meet after Stanford and that when a pimp set $900 in front of her, she set her principles aside and did what he asked. She says, however, that she no longer has a pimp, because they take too much of her earnings. She agrees to let Mitch follow her around, apparently as her on-call bodyguard, so that Mitch can also write his story. Both lonely emotionally, the couple gradually develops feelings for each other.
Cast
Lyndsy Fonseca as Natalie
Michael Doneger as Mitch
Tommy Dewey as JP
Bruce Campbell as Charles
Rachel Resheff as Emily
Rumer Willis as Dana
Steven Ogg as Warren
Iqbal Theba as Richard
Reception
According to Sheri Linden of Variety, Michael Doneger and his co-star Lyndsy Fonseca in The Escort "played with charm... and their mercenary alliance proceeds as a spirited, mostly convincing, exploration of life in the big city."
