Like a ballplayer who’s gearing up for competition after a brief hiatus off the field, director Will Ryder started off this year by asserting that he was coming back, bigger and better than ever, with the best script he’d ever written. It took halfway into 2017 to make good on his boast, but Ryder indeed delivered—this time in the form of a comedy, rather than the parody genre that garnered him many AVN Awards in the past.

Loading the bases with a funny script, an appealing cast and a talented crew, Ryder hits a grand slam with Bad Babes Inc. It’s his bid to once again take home an AVN Award for Best Comedy—which he did in 2016 with Love, Sex and TV News, also an Adam & Eve Pictures release.

First there’s the storyline, which casts Ryan Ryder as Ryan Davis, a cheating porn king, and Katie Morgan as Jennifer, his wife, who knows nothing of his infidelities—or the true nature of his business. Once divorce proceedings begin—with the lawyers played by Sarah Vandella and Seth Gamble—Jennifer is awarded Ryan’s house and business. Jennifer has a lot to learn, and she picks it up quickly with the help of Sherry (Kat Dior), Ryan’s perky assistant, who has her own ideas about how to turn Bad Babes Inc. around. No sooner than one can say “girl power,” the company is back in the black—with numbers guy Frank (Frank Bukkwyd, taking aim at a Best Non-Sex Performance award) cheering them on.

In terms of the acting, Katie Morgan takes MVP honors in this reviewer’s book. It feels like she’s finally gotten the meaty role she has so richly deserved since returning to adult entertainment. And that in itself is reason to give Bad Babes Inc. high marks. Dior is another standout, creating a character with depth and realism. The other cast members bring the movie’s many broadly drawn caricatures to life, with Alec Knight, Luna Star and Kimberly Chi particularly effective at embracing the campy stereotypes—flamboyant gay actor, sexy Latina maid and FOB immigrant—in a spirit of goofy fun.

As Ryder promised, this is indeed a big production: a 22-person cast, 13 on-set crew members, and a double-disc set loaded with extras: a story-only cut, a director/producer “travelogue,” two BTS segments, a cast table read, three photo galleries (including 3D images and the 3D glasses to view them with), trailers and a bonus sex scene. The look of the movie is also striking: it’s got a mainstream vibe with TV pacing—even more so than Ryder’s TV parodies.

And sex? Yes, there’s plenty of that going on. Handsome leading man Ryder gets to tangle with AVN Female Performer of the Year Adriana Chechik in the first scene, and then later he samples the wares at work, giving hands-on direction to porn starlets Sunny Lane, Zelda Morrison and Loni Legend. Morgan is a sexual bystander during most of the movie, but she finally gets her freak on with some porn star dick, courtesy of Chris Stokes. And throughout, the sex scenes are energetic and fun—and most important, they’re in service to the narrative, which climaxes most satisfactorily.