Barely Legal #96 (SD & Blu-ray)

Hustler Video

Genre: Vignette, Young Women

Director: Matti Klatt

Cast: Mina Lina, Talon, Jewel Styles, Chloe J., Ruby Rayes, Megan Jones, Dean, Tuesday Cross, Dane Cross, Capri Anderson, Toastboy

Length: 120:06 minutes

Date of Production: 2009

Extras: The only extra I cared for was the 29:38 minute long Behind the Scenes feature by Faria Raji that showed interviews of the ladies rather than provide a true BTS experience. There was also a 5 minute long look at how the series began in the first place, a short documentary seen previously in some volumes of the series, starring Clive McLean. There were also trailers for Hustler titles, a slide show, and some spam with the cover sporting a second side that displayed related titles in the series.

Condoms: None

Mina Lina with Talon

Audio/Video Quality: Barely Legal #96 (SD & Blu-ray) was presented in a fetching 1.78:1 widescreen color by director Matti Klatt for Hustler Video using the AVC codec; a standard on Blu-Ray discs; the standard definition version in MPEG-2 with the usual 480 resolution compared to the 1080i resolution of the high definition version, partially made up for by the SD's anamorphic nature). My knowledge of the SD version of the title allows me to compare the two; it lacked the better resolution and purity of fleshtones this version had, the bitrate often hovering around 21.3 Mbps area compared to less than a third that in the SD version which seemed to hover around the 5.3 Mbps mark. The use of video bothers some folks but it suited the nature of the show far more than film would have and the contrasts were all enhanced by the high definition approach. There were no obvious compression artifacts, no grain to speak of, and I saw no macro-blocking or other issues that pop up; thanks in no small part to the proper lighting applied here. The summation of the visuals is that they made the show look somewhat different than the series has under Erica McLean, the camera work by B. Smith and Todd Valcount, editing once again by "Nextdoor Jimmy" and direction by Matti proving to be somewhat of a nice new beginning for the otherwise generic production. The gals were all generically lean and youthful as the series promotes but minor flaws and blemishes did not seem to be handled as well as some of the older volumes in the series, relatively minor quibbles considering how much more resolution the new format offered up for my inspection. The audio was presented in a 2.0 Dolby Digital stereo English using a 224 Kbps bitrate at 48 kHz in the Blu-ray version but the bitrate was a mere 192 Kbps in the SD version (very little difference). The vocals on the scenes were flat and even in most cases, the voice-overs sounding somewhat warmer in tone and always easier to hear, and the minimal music seemed to come from the stock library used for years by the series/company. In terms of upgrades then, the visuals got the largest boost by a wide margin with the aural capabilities once again cleaned up but only slightly (and in the BTS, I could barely hear the gals speak on occasion).

Jewel Styles with Talon

Body of Review: Matti Klatt has been a director/production assistant at Hustler Video for some time now even if no one seems to know much about him. Having seen enough of his work to consider him "porn friendly", I wondered what he would bring to the table when he took over the "Barely Legal" series from Erica McLean after Barely Legal #94. Well, I missed out on his debut effort but was surprised to find Barely Legal #96 waiting for me the other day, both the standard and high definition editions coming in for comparison purposes to review. When I look back at the series as a whole, I've found that many volumes suffered from using ladies well past their teen and hardly qualifying as "barely legal" but the hope always remains that a performer will break free of the mold and show some extra enthusiasm or spark meriting additional attention. This time, the company seemed as though it was trying to upgrade the series before the 100th edition, Matti providing a pretty decent, if truncated set of scenes. Here's a brief look at the scenes by cast and action, noting that no condoms were used for those still interested:

Chloe J. and Ruby Rayes

Scene One: Mina Lina, an all natural gal wearing a green plaid bikini, was up first as Jewel Styles rubbed oil on her back while telephone repairman Talon looked at her like he hadn't eaten in a month. She put on a tease show for him out by the pool, Mina encouraging him to follow her into the house where she stuffed her hand into her pants, Talon immediately going down on her while the generic music played. His tongue worked her folds and she acted as though it was plenty of fun, her blowjob not very skillfully applied (which added to her newcomer status). He throat fucked her and she soon had him plowing her pussy as she passively allowed him to do so, the gal picking up the pace after awhile to bounce on his cock fairly well. The scene ended when he jerked out a wad of population pudding to her face, Jewel spying on them and wanting some loving for herself.

Megan Jones

Scene Two: Jewel Styles, an average looking gal in a blue bikini, then stepped in to feed Talon a greasy cheeseburger, telling him to eat it and then her though she dropped to her knees to slob his knob first. She was about as talented as Mina, looking up at him while she inhaled his pecker without her hands most of the time. He then gave her some intermittent head but spent most of his time fucking her pussy, the gal learning to ride him better as time progressed, much like her friend. The resulting load of genetic juice was far smaller this time, mostly because he unleashed his seed just minutes earlier in the first portion of the scene/movie.

Tuesday Cross

Scene Three: Chloe J. the cutie on the front cover, and Latina Ruby Rayes, were up next washing the dog in their bikinis, the gals moving inside the house once they dried him off. Chloe took a shower and Ruby joined her, the gals kissing and pawing each other in a seductive fashion before drying off and hitting the nearby bed. Chloe was the better looking of the two but Ruby seemed to be the more sexually aggressive, both gals tasting each other before some minimal toy use was deployed. It was a basic lipstick lesbian production but the gals shared some chemistry together, elevating the results accordingly.

Capri Anderson/Alexis Capri

Scene Four: Megan Jones, a lean brunette wearing red polka dotted booty shorts and a large white bra, was up next as she searched in a garage full of stuff for something. She found some sexy pink lingerie and put it on, Dean walking in to find the horny babe ready for him to play with. Her implants made her look older than the rest of the gals here but her cute ass was enough to merit additional attention, some kissing leading to her blowing him with a modicum of skill. The couple appeared to have some personal chemistry together too, the lady actively riding his pecker in her snatch while her fleshy curves jiggled a bit nicely. She did some taste testing and polished him off with another hand-assisted hummer, the splooged landing on her face as she asked him how much he enjoyed it.

Scene Five: Tuesday Cross, a horny brunette with spooky tattoos and a decadent manner about her, was up next with Dane Cross as the two decided to stop playing around in the car to fuck in a creepy old house. She tore off his pants and displayed some of the missing passion the series hasn't offered up in a long time, the POV blowjob looking pretty solid overall. While he might be a third tier moper and she a newcomer with modest potential, I enjoyed the scene for the enthusiasm they showed during the otherwise standard oral and vaginal penetration, the gal looking far too young for porn as she conveyed the series dynamic better than I ever expected going into the scene. The scene finished up when he busted a nut on her face and chest (hitting her eye right up front), making me wish for a bit more to end it though still a heated bit of work.

Scene Six: Capri Anderson, a sexy gal best known as "Alexis Capri" and regular lipstick lesbian in porn, was up last as she happened upon loser Toastboy in a deserted area as he sat in a junk car. They minced few words with their sexual entendres; the wind punctuating the action as she mechanically worked his penis into her mouth during the blowjob. She did not have much to work with but she proved to show she wasn't above sucking a guy off in porn, the guy barely reciprocating before drilling her pussy against the car. She moaned as if in a second rate porno and actively rode him when on top, his nut launched on her shaven crotch as cows mooed in the background.

Summary: Barely Legal #96 by director Matti Klatt for Hustler Video was not the best work I've seen from the guy but it was a definite step up for the series as he tried to provide a more varied experience with the ladies, altering the usual formula a bit to leave off the spoken introductions that no one believes. The levels of heat, chemistry, strokability, and replay value were a notch higher than usual too, meriting a rating of barely Recommended for me to reward the efforts with. In short, Barely Legal #96 (SD & Blu-ray) was more fun for me to appreciate than Barely Legal #94 had been, the high definition Blu-ray version adding something to the mix that was hard to define but welcome all the same. I look forward to seeing if the director can keep his momentum going with additional volumes in the series or if some more changes are made to liven it up even more.