B. Skow's output for Girlfriends Films is quite variable but HOMECOMING hits the bullseye. Providing both boy/girl and girl/girl sexual content that is arousing, it is also a dramatically and comically valid dissection of a dysfunctional family that would have mainstream talent scouts knocking on the door, IF (and it's a big if) the prejudice against Adult Entertainment were waived somehow.
I was used to Skow's dark sense of humor, which personally hit the spot in such outrageous adult comedies as SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY and especially DADDY'S GIRLS. But this earlier work provides a sympathy with the characters and situations that transcends poking fun, akin to the work of an A-list director like Lasse Hallstrom (CHOCOLAT, WHAT'S EATING GILBERT GRAPE).
Steven St. Croix and Zoey Hoilloway are well-cast as the parents, latter extremely empathetic as perhaps the most "normal" character, and even better in the role than the logical casting, India Summer (who's played Steven's wife in countless features) would have been.
Title refers to the family gathering, similar to a Thanksgiving Dinner, occasioned by return of prodigal daughter Casey Calvert with her wealthy fiancé Michael Vegas in tow. First dinner together reveals the many issues this brood faces: adopted son Ralph Long is a real mess, belittled by dad Steven and even ridiculed as a "faggot" by Vegas at their first meeting; daughter Jenna J. Ross has nympho tendencies and her good-for-nothing husband Kris Slater is treated with undisguised contempt by father-in-law Steven.
Chris jerks off (in public) at every opportunity reflecting a perennially horny nature, while Vegas acts up trying to feel up his mother-in-law-to-be Zoey at the table.
While the male cast is responsible for most of the X-rated slapstick humor, the women are frisky too. Jenna has a torrid lesbian scene with her old friend Raven Rockette, while Casey has sex with her beautiful pal Presley Heart, the Sapphic tryst almost turning into a three-way when boorish fiancé Michael tries to cut in.
Movie's piece de resistance occurs when Casey and Long get drunk and Long dresses in drag to hump his foster-sister, including anal sex, in a bizarre bit of multiple turnabouts - staged like a boy/boy sex scene but with one boy in woman's drag and the bottom boy actually a girl!
Vegas's picking on Long reaches a boiling point when Steven comes to his son's defense in a very dramatic scene where Steven throws Michael out of the house, and the engagement to Casey is off.
Zoey has an even better dramatic showcase when she confronts the rest of the family about her situation, and Steven's secret affair with a waitress that resulted in a child out of wedlock comes to light. Zoey and Steven reconcile in a hot sex scene (culminating in St. Croix's patented "fountain of cum" money shot), and by film's end the real family has achieved a sort of solidarity denoted by dad's repeated refrain of "We are what we are".
For porn addicts who keep insisting that only the sex footage matters and seem to favor the facetiousness of the ongoing "parody" craze, HOMECOMING is the film that proves them wrong. Talented performers exist who can engage one's emotions while still delivering the requisite XXX goods, and interesting storytelling never goes out of style.
I was used to Skow's dark sense of humor, which personally hit the spot in such outrageous adult comedies as SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY and especially DADDY'S GIRLS. But this earlier work provides a sympathy with the characters and situations that transcends poking fun, akin to the work of an A-list director like Lasse Hallstrom (CHOCOLAT, WHAT'S EATING GILBERT GRAPE).
Steven St. Croix and Zoey Hoilloway are well-cast as the parents, latter extremely empathetic as perhaps the most "normal" character, and even better in the role than the logical casting, India Summer (who's played Steven's wife in countless features) would have been.
Title refers to the family gathering, similar to a Thanksgiving Dinner, occasioned by return of prodigal daughter Casey Calvert with her wealthy fiancé Michael Vegas in tow. First dinner together reveals the many issues this brood faces: adopted son Ralph Long is a real mess, belittled by dad Steven and even ridiculed as a "faggot" by Vegas at their first meeting; daughter Jenna J. Ross has nympho tendencies and her good-for-nothing husband Kris Slater is treated with undisguised contempt by father-in-law Steven.
Chris jerks off (in public) at every opportunity reflecting a perennially horny nature, while Vegas acts up trying to feel up his mother-in-law-to-be Zoey at the table.
While the male cast is responsible for most of the X-rated slapstick humor, the women are frisky too. Jenna has a torrid lesbian scene with her old friend Raven Rockette, while Casey has sex with her beautiful pal Presley Heart, the Sapphic tryst almost turning into a three-way when boorish fiancé Michael tries to cut in.
Movie's piece de resistance occurs when Casey and Long get drunk and Long dresses in drag to hump his foster-sister, including anal sex, in a bizarre bit of multiple turnabouts - staged like a boy/boy sex scene but with one boy in woman's drag and the bottom boy actually a girl!
Vegas's picking on Long reaches a boiling point when Steven comes to his son's defense in a very dramatic scene where Steven throws Michael out of the house, and the engagement to Casey is off.
Zoey has an even better dramatic showcase when she confronts the rest of the family about her situation, and Steven's secret affair with a waitress that resulted in a child out of wedlock comes to light. Zoey and Steven reconcile in a hot sex scene (culminating in St. Croix's patented "fountain of cum" money shot), and by film's end the real family has achieved a sort of solidarity denoted by dad's repeated refrain of "We are what we are".
For porn addicts who keep insisting that only the sex footage matters and seem to favor the facetiousness of the ongoing "parody" craze, HOMECOMING is the film that proves them wrong. Talented performers exist who can engage one's emotions while still delivering the requisite XXX goods, and interesting storytelling never goes out of style.