The following review, and the above time and ratings, are for the VHS version of this movie and may vary in this DVD version. Multiple themes on coming of age are woven into a charming plot tracing the hidden lives and group dynamics of a high school basketball team getting ready for their five-year class reunion in 1962. The sex among teammates could have happened only in your most fanciful wet dream -- unless your high school was way different from mine. But hey, what are porn videos for? The story is wonderfully held together by a talented cast, most of whom look like dreamy jocks. Aaron Lawrence is also well cast as the nerd who warmed the bench and did the dreaming. Lawrence performs superbly as the introverted son of a preacher, reluctant to shower with the others, unsure of his sexual identity, but itching to find out more. Three of his teammates are comfortable being gay. The others either are also in denial, face heavy parental pressure, go both ways, or are just confused. Judging by the sex scenes, there is no confusion about their lust for other men.
In the opener, a male bonding episode in the back of a pickup, gym-buffed, dark-haired Rick Chase and cute, floppy haired blond Scott Lyons are finishing Scott's first legal six-pack of beer -- he's just turned 18. After peeing, both leave their cocks hanging out so they won't have to unzip again, and what follows is a marvelous depiction of "one thing led to another." After they shoot their loads, Lyons rebuffs Chase's attempt at a kiss, insists he's not gay, and says this first was also their last sexual encounter. Fast forward five years, though, and they are back at the same secluded spot. This time, there is still no kissing, but Lyons is willing to fuck, and he tops Chase with gusto. After a naked shower scene, cute, twinky Tony Donovan takes drop-dead gorgeous Kurt Young (a veteran from earlier videos by director Jerry Douglas) to his house and lets him look at his porn collection. Young's discovery of a male magazine among the Playboys, provides an opening to get frisky. In a revealing twist, when they cut cards to decide who gets to be sucked first, Donovan lies about his losing draw so he can be the first cocksucker. They do it through a glory hole cut in Donovan's bedroom wall. Young gets off but has to leave before reciprocating. "I owe you one," he promises. Flash forward to the reunion, and the two, now both married, relive their first fling. Donovan is ready for "payback" for those blue balls he was left with. Still wary of being watched, he makes Young wear a blindfold as he sucks him, then surprises him with an expert rim job. Donovan mounts Young, pounds his ass, then shoots his load on Young's face. Now it's his turn to say, "I owe you one."
The sexual tiger inside Lawrence is unleashed in a dance of deflowering under the tutelage of Kristian Brooks and Lucas James. Especially erotic are projections of porn films onto their naked bodies as they suck and fondle one another. The three-way is a highlight of the video. Back at the gym, the team members, having gone all season without a win, are locked into the locker room by coach Preston Richie in one last attempt to develop a winning strategy for the final game. They dispense with Coach's rule of no sex play before a game and pour their energy into a prolonged circle jerk that results in enough teen spunk to coat the shower floor and, of course, the bonding they need to win the game.
Giving up on romance with the conflicted Lyons, Chase toys with the idea of wooing Lawrence as a lover but decides against it because they've become best friends. Five years later he confesses he regretted losing that opportunity and suggests they try to make up for lost time. The closing scene pairs the Adonis and the nerd in a symphony of libido-wringing sex, the mood of which is captured perfectly when they emerge naked from the shower room and Lawrence leaps into Chase's arms, wrapping his legs around him as though to say, "don't pinch me -- I refuse to wake up." The sex that follows is far more engaging than any ride into the sunset.
Director Douglas gives the viewer a slice of life that also works nicely as highly erotic sexual stimulation. With rich dialogue, character development and careful attention to atmospheric detail -- Life magazines, tank-sized cars with aerodynamic fins, 50s-flavored music -- he has strapped us into a time machine and taken us back to when youthful sexual discovery was in some ways simpler and in others much more complicated than now. Douglas's productions are worth the wait (this is his first release since the 1997 Family Values), but I wish his talents could be cloned so another 10 directors were turning out such gems.
Digitally remastered for DVD, 5.1 digital surround sound, chapter index, no regional coding, parental lock, cast bios, slide shows, trailers, bloopers.
