Wetlook World Forum

In the ultimate gimmicky photography book, French-born photographer Vial (Women Before 10 A.M.) captures two quintessentially Hollywood images: movie stars and swimming pools. Most of the full-color photos feature those two images, although some deviate, showing stars urinating or canoeing on a lake, or non-stars (like the U.S. Synchronized Swimming Team) flaunting their stuff. Vial's images tend toward the sexy (there's Rosanna Arquette pouring a pitcher of water over her black lingerie-clad body, and loads of other shots feature wet t-shirts); some show stars skinny-dipping. Many reveal celebrities mid-air, about to take the plunge. The settings-often subjects' backyards-contribute to the book's insider feel, and there's something pleasantly unpolished about the image of Sasha Lazard (Dark Harbor) hiding her head between her arms as she dives in to a dark pool in a turquoise dress, or of Tom Cruise grinning euphorically just before he lands in a glimmering rectangle of water. No captions accompany the photos; readers must refer to a listing at the book's end to figure out who's who. 232 color photos.