Intimate Strangers (Lanny Barby)

Vivid Entertainment

Genre: Feature

Director: Paul Thomas

Cast: Joanna Angel, Van Damage, TJ Hart, Saana, Tommy Gunn, Lanny Barby, Barbara Summers, Jack Lawrence

Length: 112.5 minutes

Date of Production: 9/20/2005

Extras: The initial extras included on the DVD were the usual five bonus scenes; none of them from previous movies with Lanny Barby in them. There was a short biography for Lanny Barby too but like most such biographies, it wasn't worth much to me. There was a 7.5 minute long Behind the Scenes feature by Ben Hoffman that focused as much on Joanna Angel as the lovely Lanny, a positions room, a series of trailers including titles like The New Devil In Miss Jones, Take My Wife, Janine Been Blackmaled, Nameless, and Spiked; a couple of photogalleries, and some spam for phone sex and Vivid products (as well as the usual double sided DVD cover).

Condoms: Yes

Audio/Video Quality: Intimate Strangers was presented in the same 1.33:1 ratio full frame color as shot by director Paul Thomas for Vivid Entertainment. The lighting was typically better than average this time, relying on Ralph Parfait's keen eye to capture the sex as he has long been able to do. There were some moments with too much grain but overall, a solid job was done on the technical aspects of the scenes, enhancing the look of the ladies in almost every case. Yes, there were some bits with overly saturated colors but the editing could've cleaned that up (should've cleaned it up) and those moments weren't that frequent. The audio was presented in a barebones 2.0 Dolby Digital stereo English with the vocals competently captured and a few musical pieces that actually sounded like some thought was put into them. In general, the audio was pretty good though nothing special compared to some of Vivid's higher end projects.

Body of Review: Lanny Barby is currently the hottest contract starlet at Vivid Entertainment in terms of her looks and sexual prowess. As a fan of blondes and all natural bodies, this speaks volumes in terms of how her distinctive qualities override my usual programming (and as a fan of Jenna and Tera, my comments serve to illustrate how much I enjoy her work). Her latest movie is Intimate Strangers, a story about a man (Van Damage) who inadvertently gets mixed up in the marital woes of the lovely Lanny Barby. The back cover explained the story like this: "Lanny Barbie is the bottom line. When you mistake your accountant for your psychiatrist, anything can happen. And it all does, to porn's scorching, new siren, Lanny Barbie. Join Lanny, Joanna Angel, AVN's best new starlet, T.J. Hart, Van Damage, and more in this twisted tale of mistaken identity, in which confusion only leads to correction and errors only lead to eros!" That said, here's a look at this four star movie from Vivid, noting that all the usual factors were present as noted above:

Scene One: More Than Coffee: Joanna Angel, arguably the newest gal in porn to appeal as much to the mind as anything else, was up first as the friend with benefit of lead male Van Damage on the bed. She dispensed with all the pleasantries to strip down and stick her very nice ass in the air, head down on the bed to convince him of her charms. She then teased him in a rather pleasing manner before they kissed and she gave him a nearly POV blowjob (interestingly shot on the left side of his body unlike the more typical right hand side). Joanna is an oral queen, providing a visually appealing hummer in almost every scene she makes, with him slamming her pussy in doggy right after that. The camera was shaky after Van went down on her, giving some other positions a try before the anal took place. This wasn't her most active scene but she was still very appealing to me as she offered herself up for his use as a cock socket. The scene ended when he rubbed out a tiny load onto her ass, leaving her feeling satisfied that her job was done. It was a solid way to start the show with some nice replay value.

Scene Two: My Ultimate Experience: TJ Hart, a hotty I've liked watching for years, Saana, a relatively new sweetheart, and studly Tommy Gunn, were up next in the therapist's office (he did a decent job in the role by the way). The scene started out with the ladies providing some lesbian fun, licking and fingering one another to showcase the differences each had (Saana was the older woman's toy in a sense, serving as the vessel of revenge against TJ's husband in the act). Tommy, upon seeing the very appealing duo going at it, felt obligated to share in their delight, providing the meat stick for them to use in order to complete the action they desired. Both gals gave active, highly replayable performances as they rode him rather hard in the study, ending with the booty pop shot. This was another very appealing scene, even with the minor compositional errors that appeared from time to time.

Scene Three: Watching: Lanny Barby, the very fine gal on the front DVD cover and thematic female lead of the show, was up next as she returned to Van for advice, even after finding out he wasn't a therapist. I was all ready for the two to go at it but she provided a heated solo masturbation scene instead. Granted, when she said that her husband couldn't keep an erection with her, I thought that someone writing porn scripts needs to meet the lady, but seeing her in her pink sundress was enough to solve that problem with me in about a couple of seconds. Her moaning, rubbing, and stroking of her body didn't last long enough for me but it did serve as a nice tease to whet the appetite.

Scene Four: Voyeur: Lanny Barby, in an even skimpier bit of lingerie, started teasing but then blonde hotty Barbara Summers joined in to pleasure Jack Lawrence as a voyeur. The two gals contrasted nicely, with Lanny's curvy tanned body beside Barbara's equally curvy but lighter toned figure. Lanny played at being upset initially but was soon in the throws of ecstasy as both sampled what the other had to offer. Lanny got slightly rough, spanking Barbara's fine ass for effect, but Barbara then left her female plaything to get busy with Jack. Lanny joined them and the sucking with fucking was a bit mechanical at times (almost like they were being directed as to what to do at a given time) but decidedly the best scene of the show for me by this point. The scene was lengthy and had some serious chemistry between the trio, giving it lots of replay value for me to enjoy repeatedly.

Scene Five: Meeting Mike: Joanna Angel, back for another spin on the wheel of hot sex, was up with freakish Barry Scott in something of a grudge fuck where she entered his garage where he was working on the car, and began doing each other. The music was off but interesting as a rock styled homage to her role as an alt-chick, and she once again provided some fine oral work for my enjoyment. They then took the act inside for him to snack on her crack, licking her sweet pussy on the washing machine to get her wet for the taking. They boned in a few positions and while it was far from her best work once more, I can see why so many fans are lining up to see her movies. For the record, the pop shot went to her pussy but it was kind of weak compared to some of the others in the movie.

Scene Six: Goodbye: Lanny Barby, standing quite statuesque in her white outfit beside Joanna, decided to give Van Damage a going away gift in his office. To say that she appeals to all the senses isn't enough because the lowered light added a sort of glow around her. I wished Joanna would have stayed, since the two ladies are complete opposites in terms of appealing features, but Lanny and Van seemed to be a good pairing nonetheless. The oral was slow and seductive, the vaginal ride (especially the cowgirl position where Lanny was incredible) active, and the pop shot pretty indicative of how much he was into her. The chemistry was great and the scene struck me as almost as good as Lanny's previous full scene with Barbara and Tommy, providing a heated finish worth a number of replays.

Summary: Intimate Strangers was a title I thought easily earned a rating of Recommended and nearly ended up a notch higher thanks to the heated performances by Lanny Barby and current appreciation for Joanna Angel as much as the amount of fuck for the buck they provided. The extras were cookie cutter standard and the technical values needed more polishing up but fans of these two ladies (the others were fine too by the way) will want to own a copy of the movie given how the total package managed to work so well. Lanny is certainly a major asset of the company and as her English language skills improve, her roles in features like this one will certainly flow more easily but she has a number of qualities that translate well into any language, making me more fully appreciate her conversion from gonzo gal to feature starlet as appears to be in the cards. In short, Intimate Strangers will make you want to be intimate with Lanny Barby over and over again, proving her staying power to an adoring public.