British and Barely 18 Review

Reviewed by astroknight  on  2/1/2003

Running Time: 91 min.

Production Date: June 2002

Director: None Listed

Cast: Karla St. James, Fran Lord, Donna Marie, Bonny Heart, Ashley, Maxine, Teona, Karina, Amber, Cloe, and an uncredited black guy and blonde

Initial Expectations: When I met the people at Union Jaxxx at the Adult Expo, they seemed offended when I asked if they were on just VHS or both VHS and DVD. They told me they were only on DVD since they’re looking to the future. With that kind of attitude, I can’t help but go in with some decent expectations.

Initial Reaction: Yawn.

Who Should Watch It : Anybody who’s main concern is watching somebody they’ve never seen before.

Who Should Avoid It: Anybody who wants scenes that feel a little different from each other.

Audio /Video Quality: The audio is balanced pretty well, but there are a few minor distractions throughout the feature. The video is very clear, and nicely mixes black and white and color footage.

Music: The music, which isn’t in all of the feature, is nicely balanced with the rest of the audio. On the down side, there only seems to be one song through the entire feature. This becomes more than a little annoying, and was repetitive enough that I think it made me start to doze off a little through the feature.

Disc Problems: There’s no time stamp on the DVD, and in addition to this, you can’t skip between chapters on the DVD. If you’re bored with a scene and want to skip to the next one or want to make a quick preview of the DVD, you can’t. The only way you can navigate forward in the feature is through the chapter menu. Oddly, you can still skip backwards.

Menus: The main menu has some very basic animation, and the chapter menu nicely lets you choose a scene based on the leading lady in the scene.

The Feature: British and Barely 18 shows that Ed Powers influence has spread across the ocean. Each scene has a very brief lead-in, and the scenes are broken apart by interviews with the girl in the scene. As soon as the scene is done, things quickly cut out and go on to the next scene.

Cute blonde Karla St. James starts things out. She masturbates with her fingers and a vibe, as well as playing with her ass a little. It’s a nice start to the feature, but anybody looking for an overly energetic or vocal performance will be a little disappointed.

Donna Marie, a blonde who’s recently shown up in a few videos on this side of the Atlantic, says she’s always fantasized about getting it on with a black guy. It’s a good thing since the only guy in the feature is black but sadly he never gets any credit. They exchange oral favors before Donna gets boned doggie style. Apparently she has a mighty taste snatch, since the guy goes in for another munching before he lets her ride him reverse cowgirl style. Finally Donna finishes things up taking a facial. It’s an okay scene that’s really hurt by the interview being spliced with the sex.

Ashley fills the masturbation spot in the next scene. She strips down and works herself over with her fingers and a vibe. It’s an okay scene, but I couldn’t help but feel like I was watching the opening scene again.

Maxine, a brunette who hasn’t quite discovered all the places a razor can be used, decides to fuck for her scene, and since the talent pool seemed to go dry, is limited to the same black guy. After letting the guy play with her pussy she sucks his cock. They fuck in doggie, reverse cowgirl, and missionary before she collects his ball snot on her tits. It’s an okay scene that didn’t really do too much for me.

Fran Lord, a good looking dirty blonde, plays with herself in the next scene (some might notice a pattern emerging here). She works around her bra and panties before stripping down, and finally sucks and uses a vibe on herself. It’s yet another okay scene that’s more than a little held back by not feeling like it offers anything different from the masturbation scenes that preceded it.

Teona, a very young looking blonde, lets the guy play with and eat her pussy before giving him a little oral affection in return. She fucks him doggie style and reverse cowgirl style, and in a nice twist, even lets him bone her ass while she rides him reverse cowgirl style. As with the other scenes, Teona finishes the scene with a facial. It’s a disappointing scene, mostly because Teona often doesn’t look like she’s into it.

Karina, a hot blonde with a bald beaver, starts her scene out in a black and white schoolgirl outfit telling how she’s fantasized about being with another woman. She moves on to work herself over through and around her clothes. She breaks out a pair of vibes, and after warming up her pussy, DP’s herself. It’s one of the best scenes here, but after the lead-in about wanting to be with another woman, I was just as disappointed as I was satisfied.

Cloe, an implanted blonde, starts things out with quite a bit of oral action and playing between her, the black guy, and another blonde who isn’t credited. Surprisingly, most of this scene is oral action and playing. There’s a little fucking, but not much, and Cloe finished things up with a pop in the mouth. Although not too bad of a scene, about all it feels like is a good start due to the short length of the scene and the limited amount of fucking in it.

Bonny Heart, a blonde who seems to love to laugh, handles the final masturbation scene. She talks to the camera as she puts her fingers to work and later works herself up to using two vibes on herself. Bonny’s attitude makes this one a winner.

Finally, Amber, a bleached blonde with pierced nipples who wants to be in an orgy, takes on the black guy by herself. They start out groping each other and exchanging oral favors before fucking reverse cowgirl and doggie style. Finally, Amber collects the guy’s ball snot on her tits after a good long stroke to get there. It’s an okay at best scene that seems to lose more and more momentum as the scene goes on. It’s not the best way to end a feature.

The first entry in the British and Barely 18 series leaves more than a little to be desired. I love that there are interviews with the girls, since this seems to be the first time in an adult film for most of them, but splicing them with the actual scene doesn’t do much other than kill the heat in the scenes. If that’s not bad enough, some of the setup shots in the interviews look like they’re repeated from interview to interview. The camera angles also seem very limited, which also helped to hold back some of the scenes for me. Karina and Cloe both stand out as the top scenes here, but most of the other scenes seem redundant. British and Barely 18 is about the same quality most people think of with British dental work.

Extras: Trailers are included for seven other Union Jaxxx titles.

Themes: Straight, barely legal, masturbation, toys, inter-racial, anal, lesbian, group, DP (technical), and spanking

Raincoat Factor: Medium high

Overall: Currently, British and Barely 18 1 can be found online for around $15. For a new studio this is probably a reasonable price for them, since there isn’t really anything here other than the movie, but it seems a bit steep for what you get in this movie and how many scenes seem redundant. On the plus side, they do appear to be giving their transfer some good care.

Note to Union Jaxxx: You’ve got an okay start here, but please allow the viewer to jump around in the feature if they want to. Also, if you’re going to set up the scenes like you’re fulfilling the fantasies of the girls, have the fantasies correspond to the scenes!

If you have any questions or comments, please e-mail me .

Other reviews by Astroknight