Subtle and emotionally resonant, Nica Noelle's "Mothers & Sons" is a straightforward romance, clearly demonstrating her naturalistic contribution to Adult Cinema.
Its structure is more familiar in the recent "Mother Exchange" movies in which instead of wife swapping the viewer experiences guys humping each other's moms. Nica divides her show into two halves, each featuring a pair of moms & sons who trade off in bed, not by design but by attraction.
The dialog is natural and fits the characters, as attested to by actor Michael Vegas in the BTS short subject on the DVD. He plays Nina Hartley's son, attracted since he he was a young teen to her friend Erica Lauren. Lauren in her 50s is a terrifically empathetic actress, and it's great to see her in age-appropriate roles like this one.
Lauren's emotional longing is palpable as the young man makes love to her, while pal Nina and Erica's own son Richie DeVille sip wine downstairs oblivious to the coupling in the bedroom. Michael mentions how he was originally attracted to Erica going to work each day in her thigh- high boots, and during their sex scene a pair of her leather boots sits on the bedspread significantly.
Meanwhile, conversation downstairs turns to Richie's brief fling with an older woman while visiting his estranged dad in Spain. Mom Lauren had to bring him up alone, as dad had flown the coop, and current tension between mom & son is caused by the kid's reuniting for 6 months and bonding rather heavily with his free spirit dad. Of course Nina and Richie hook up, with a wonderful moment of wide-eyed shock on Nina's face when the kid kisses her.
First half of the film concerns med student Johnny Castle moving in as a boarder with Tara Holiday and her son Seth Gamble. She's attracted to the hunk, and when Johnny's mom Veronica Avluv visits in her son's absence Seth is similarly attracted to the buxom and glamorous star.
The resulting sex scenes are built up to slowly but surely, with slightly drunk Veronica doing her squirting thing, and sensitive Latin bombshell Holiday giving an energetic performance. Nothing overly dramatic or consequential occurs over the course of two hours plus, but Nica delivers a perfect Couples Romance that holds up quite well, benefiting from its lack of artifice.
