Blue Movie

This is Zen's attempt at the "movie within a movie" theme that has been handled better (Terror Firmer) and worse (Rented Lips) by more respectable filmmakers. The result is a surprisingly coherent storyline in a none-the-less boring and sloppy production.

Zen's experience in gay porn shows in his treatment of the subject. Men are given entirely too much attention on the screen, while the actresses are treated unkindly by the lighting and camerawork. Scenes that could have been exciting in the hands of another director come across as dull and lifeless.

Jameson gives the movie's only redeeming performance, but despite her top billing, she isn't given much serious work to keep her busy. The supporting roles are played without any conviction, and many of the picture's key scenes suffer for it. Fine's part is especially frustrating because she has been known to do good work in the past.

On top of this, the script is filled with long and uninspired dialogue scenes that do little to move the plot forward. Still, even this could have been fixed with a bit of editing. In the end, the failure of this movie all comes down to the cinematography.

Michael Zen's finest heterosexual hardcore effort yet (he's been making gay porn since 1972's legendary FALCONHEAD) is a furiously paced farce set within a glamorized beyond recognition porn studio where intrepid reporter Jenna Jameson (in an engaging performance in stark contrast to her genuinely frightening psycho slut in that same year's WICKED ONE by Greg Steelberg and Brad Armstrong) searches to expose cross-dressing director Steven St.Croix (never better, his comedic skills here far more subtle than in Paul Thomas' THE SHOW), if only she could get past his butch bodyguard Jeanna Fine. Part of the film's fun comes from the movie being shot at the studio,sort of a sexed-up Indiana Jones epic done on the (very) cheap,combining with Steve's taste for feminine apparel for a loving tribute to Ed Wood. Add to this a number of pretty bizarre dream sequences involving a talking blue ball (somehow it all makes perfect sense within the movie's context), a sidesplitting supporting role from noted drag queen Jackie Beat and an unexpectedly romantic conclusion to tug at your heartstrings and you get, well, not your average porn flick, that's for sure. The one minor drawback here is that the requisite number of sex scenes tend to seem a little rushed with all the plot exposition to get out of the way. Still,this is a wonderful departure from the usual adult fare,crafted with utmost care and intelligence. Oh yeah, great blooper reel at the end too.

Blue Movie was one of the movies Jenna Jameson made during her prime. This was shot back when Jenna looked really amazing. When she still had those lovely curves that just drive me crazy. As a porno movie "Blue Movie" isn't anything special and if it wasn't for Jenna I probably wouldn't have given this movie more than 2 or 3 stars.

Jenna plays a reporter who is out to get a story on a porn director. The story isn't anything great, but who really expects that from a porno movie. Jenna looks so good even with clothes on, that right from the start I just wanted to see her get naked and start "fucking". Too bad they don't use Jenna as much as they should have in this movie. We only get to see Jenna in two scenes, one boy girl scene and one lesbian scene. And it takes forever to get to the first scene.

The lesbian scene with Jenna isn't anything special. I've seen many lesbian scenes with Jenna better than this one. If you want to see a good lesbian scene with Jenna you might want to check out "Flashpoint". The boy girl scene in this movie however is really good. The only two complaints I have about the scene is that it is too short and too dark. If the scene was lit better, I would have seen Jenna's spectacular body better and naturally enjoyed the scene even more. As the scene is only a little bit over 7 minutes long it feels really short by todays porn standards. But when you compare it to other scenes from story based pornos in the late 90:s, I guess it isn't that short. Well, it might have been a little hard doing a long scene in this case because the guy blows his load three times during the seven minutes. But looking at Jenna's performance you really can't blame a guy for blowing his load prematurely. It's just spectacular the way this girl moans and uses her body when she has sex. No wonder most of her scenes are on the shorter side. I really enjoyed seeing Jenna in the cowgirl position in this scene. When Jenna rides a guy in the cowgirl position I just go crazy. This is really the position were Jenna shines the brightest.

To me it's a little sad to watch a movie like this with Jenna. It's sad to see greatness wasted in a movie like this. Too bad Jenna wasted a lot of her career in movies just like this. It would have been great if Jenna was 6-7 years younger and in her prime around 2005 instead of 1998. Then we probably would have seen her reach her full potential. Just imagine seeing Jenna in a gonzo movie with 20-30 minute long scenes. Just imagine seeing Jenna in scenes with hard anal, double penetration and massive facials and looking like she looked back in 1998. It's sad we never got to see the "queen of porn" in scenes like that. Instead we had to see her waste a lot of her potential in movies like "Blue Movie".

Instead of delivering what has later been christened "porn-parody" Michael Zen wisely chose to make fun of his own segment of the industry, namely Adult Cinema, with this Jenna Jameson vehicle. Unlike the naysayers (they abound on IMDb apparently), it is all the better for not kowtowing to the superstar's status but giving her ensemble cast mates a chance to shine, too.

Steven St. Croix is effective in drag costume and makeup emulating Carmen Miranda (!) as a cross-dressing film director who hires Nancy Drew-styled intrepid reporter Jenna for his currently shooting project "The Legend of the Golden Oyster". There is considerable film-within-a- film content here, sometimes poorly edited and with continuity issues (for example, the showpiece "3 cum shots in succession" T.T. Boy scene), but generally the video is fun and funny. Particularly cute is Jackie Beat also in drag (and styled a bit after Divine) as Jenna's harridan of a boss at a gossip rag who's assigned JJ to get the goods on St. Croix's character.

Pic's opening of St. Croix on the couch, seduced by his horny shrink Rebecca Lord has a terrific performance by the French beauty, and Lana Sands as an actress playing an Amazonian woman in the "Oyster" film is effective providing IR content. There are many inside references, notably a spoofing of the industry's obsession (then and now) with anal sex, as we see a scene from the fictitious "Anal Snow Bunnies", as well as a mocking of the leading man's inability to deliver a money shot on cue, forcing St. Croix to doff his dress and don male attire to hump his lesbian amanuensis Jeanna Fine in the movie's climactic vignette. Gender issues and stereotyping are well-delineated here in comic fashion.

Jenna looks marvelous and has three distinct styles: ultra glam in a masturbation scene involving a cryptic, talking Blue Ball; empathetic and innocent-seeming as the reporter, and finally taking on a Monroe aspect near the end credits, restyled with shorter platinum blonde hairdo.

One interesting sidelight: The DVD released 9 years after the VHS original has quite a bit of excised footage that illuminates the changes in editing and audience-demanded content in the changeover from the VHS era to DVDs and now website/streaming delivery. Sex scenes in the film proper are concise and to the point, while the Bonus scenes on the DVD run endlessly like current practice. This is especially obvious in the rearrangement of T.T. Boy's exemplary 3 money shots back to back footage with Jenna, garbled in the shortened VHS cut.