This 16th volume doesn't fit properly into the Taboo series, as it doesn't concern incest or much else thematically. It's merely a case of writer-producer Patti Rhodes venting, while her hubby and director Fred Lincoln directs sleepily.
John Decker talks out loud incessantly, not porn's usual crutch of voice-over narration but a gimmick to deliver downbeat and self-pitying story content that fails to disguise the pointlessness of the material. Modern Adult Cinema audiences are weaned on all-sex features, so this gussying up of sex scenes should not faze them.
But I wanted a story and someone to root for. Patti says au contraire, giving us a crummy anti-hero and women from his past who are as limited in their goals and ambitions as he is. Cynical ending is in keeping with this sour grapes theme.
So we learn in endless flashbacks that he was dumped and humiliated by his beautiful wife Shyla Foxxx. He lost his job as a bartender at a club where Black singer Yasmine sings with a jazz band, and she has remained platonically loyal to him, even as he seemingly spends all his current time drinking and dumpster diving in the alley behind the club. But Yasmine shares his low expectations view of life.
Several of the flashbacks are arbitrary sex scenes presented as "examples" by Decker, a verey poor scripting device. This permits guest stars from England Roxanne Hall and Nici Sterling to silently pep up the action, though neither is playing a character or given any dialog.
Only point of interest for me was casting of Foxxx, an obscure leading lady I've seen several times, but here blew me away as the spitting image of the current most beautiful actress on TV: Priyanka Chopra. I hate porn-parodies and the dumb concept behind them (to see facsimiles of favorite actresses getting down), but am always thrilled to watch a real porn film that has an accidental lookalike involved.
