Being Jenna

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Being Jenna

Reviewed on: March 18, 2009
NSFW.ARMY

Release date:
February 5, 2009
Runtime:
2h 15m
Cast:
Jenna Jameson|Evan Stone|Olivia Del Rio|Daisy Marie|Angela Crystal|Aurora Snow|Cherry Rain|Talon|Tristan Seagal|Michelle Michaels|Chi Chi LaRue

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Click for trailer

Being Jenna

Vivid Entertainment

Jenna before makeup in the BTS

Genre: Vignette

Director: Chi Chi LaRue

Jenna Jameson and Cherry Rain

Cast: Jenna Jameson, Cherry Rain, Aurora Snow, Tristan Seagal, Michelle Michaels, Talon, Angela Crystal, Evan Stone, Olivia Del Rio, Daisy Marie

Aurora Snow and Tristan

Length: 135:23 minutes

Date of Production: 2/8/2003

Michelle Michaels and Talon

Extras: Unlike most recently shot Vivid titles (this was made over 6 years ago!), there were no bonus scenes, the primary extras being the five trailers, the photogallery, the spam, and a biography for Jenna Jameson. To make up for this travesty, the company provided an extended reel of footage lasting 85:52 minutes called "Being Jenna: The B-Roll". While much of it was related to Jenna being interviewed though, there was truly a lot of Behind the Scenes footage from the shoot, Chi Chi in good form, Jenna not yet lost to her ego, Lee Garland again proving to have more insight than the vast majority of performers as he made them up, and it really reminded me of how much nicer she was back then (even if the movie sucked donkey balls, I knew this alone would merit checking out for all those lost Jenna fans).

Crystal Rain

Condoms: Yes

Audio/Video Quality: Being Jenna was presented in a 1.33:1 ratio full frame color with 480i resolution offering as shot back in 2003(!!!) by director Chi Chi LaRue for Vivid Entertainment to be released in this MPEG-2 standard definition version. Given the amount of material contained in the movie and the lengthy BTS, a second disc might have helped elevate the look of the show, the video bitrate hovering around the 3.6 Mbps mark most of the times I checked it. Given the age of the material and methods of shooting back then, the compression needed to jam so much information on the disc was bothersome, the erotic manner in which Chi Chi shot the lesbian oriented fare such that you will either like it or hate it with few of you in the middle. I would have preferred more medium to wide shots to provide a better scan of the scenes, especially the ones where there were multiple partners engaging in sexual depravity at the same time, but the composition of the angles combined with all the support crew's efforts did manage to enhance the look of the gals at every turn. The editing by "Harry Crumb" was not all that swell but it wasn't terrible either, the attempts at eroticism outside of his influence from what I could tell. The audio was presented in the standard 2.0 Dolby Digital English using a 192 Kbps audio bitrate and 48 kHz sampling rate but it lacked separation or substantial bass, the dynamic range quite limited. Overall, it was quite average with some noticed overdubbing of vocals including moans & groans.

Jenna Jameson, Daisy Marie, and Olivia Del Rio

Body of Review: Say what you will about the rise and fall of the illustrious Jenna Jameson's career but in her day, she was the top of the food chain, any release of hers garnering significant attention from the press, critics, and consumers alike. After she left Wicked Pictures, her sexiest scenes were shot by director Chi Chi LaRue for Vivid Entertainment, her own Club Jenna titles typically targeted at a different market with all their special visual effects, her reluctance to work with any males outside of her husband, and all sorts of other quirks that ultimately caused her to lose her favored status. As a Jenna fan myself, I counted myself among the many that sang her praises and wish her well with her late term pregnancy (she's due any day now with twins) but virtually all of her scenes released in the last several years were shot so long ago that they have lost something over time, the "stashed away in a vault" method of how she was marketed bothering me a lot. That said, another two Jenna scenes are now out, albeit lesbian scenes, in the newly released Being Jenna, a series of five scenes shot over six years ago. The movie was shot as a sort of autobiography of Jenna, the focus always on the lead even though she only had two scenes with other women. The back cover said it like this: "There's nothing quite like Being Jenna. The glamour, the stardom, the sex and the sex. In this diary-style, day-in-the-life, we follow around the porn's biggest star, learn her secrets, hear of her desires, and see several of them acted out...with toys and facials to match. Jenna. A state of being you have to see to believe...." Here's a brief look at the scenes by cast and action, noting that condoms were used for those still interested:

Scene One: Jenna Jameson, back before she took on her anorexic look, was up first out by the pool with redhead Cherry Rain. While this was a lesbian showing, I never got the impression the two were faking it, each seeming to truly enjoy the company of the other even if the music was too loud, the waterfall too intrusive, and the camera too fluid. Jenna was in "performance mode" since she made a point to keep looking at the camera, Cherry looking happy to just have the star going down on her nicely trimmed cookie. I found it interesting that Cherry did her best to avoid reciprocating until they were under the waterfall but she did finger Jenna extensively, both of them looking towards the camera by this point. The underwater exhibition by the ladies was visually stimulating too, the scene lasting over twenty minutes.

Scene Two: Aurora Snow, long a fixture in porn herself, was up next on a loveseat wearing a transparent blue nighty as she made out with Tristan Seagal. The two pawed each other to some loud music, caressing and licking as time permitted. While I sensed less chemistry between these two than the last scene, it did serve to remind me of Aurora back when she was fresher, the cute gal giving as well as she received in the oral and vaginal action. She might not have been as polished an act back then as she is now but her natural knob slobbing and active riding skills served her well all the same. He wore a condom as he porked her but she pushed back to meet his thrusts, the vaginal-only scene serving up some stroke value and replayability at the same time. The scene ended when Aurora took his wad of genetic juice to her face, some post coital licking provided as Tristan relaxed in delight.

Scene Three: Michelle Michaels, a skinny blond in street clothes, was up next on a bar top with muscular Talon, the two taking ample time to rub each other the right way. There was none of the rush you see with most of the gonzo directors these days, the foreplay helping elevate the scene a notch for me to appreciate. Their oral was almost a contest of wills to see who could hold out, some playful action including her rubbing her meaty labia on his leg (which looked hot!). The cunnilingus and fellatio solidly performed, they moved to a moderately active vaginal ride, the decent levels of chemistry helping add to the value of the action before she took his facial of population pudding.

Scene Four: Angela Crystal, yet another bleach blond, was up next in a bedroom with the mighty Evan Stone, her transparent red top looking good on her as the pair masturbated together. Evan was slowly rubbing one out and she jilled herself at length, soon joining the studly guy as she moved over to suck his dick. He nuzzled her ass and she sat on his face, the pair performing (Angela equating loud with "good") the entire time. She slid down his body to cram his pecker in her pussy, getting more head from him before they went at it full time. The vaginal plowing was condom clad and she was not nearly as active a rider as the previous gals, massaging his nuts as he jerked off to her face.

Scene Five: Olivia Del Rio, Daisy Marie, and Jenna Jameson, were up last as they engaged in a lesbian scene on a tropical looking balcony by the pool. Jenna's blue eyes looked great here and would have looked even better had she stopped mugging for the camera, the manner in which she looked into her partners' eyes much, much hotter for me. The overbearing music was again present along with the heavy handed editing but the lighting effects were less evident and the ladies seemed to appreciate each other pretty well too. Olivia and Daisy went down on Jenna first but all of them got in some good licks, the spray from the irrigation system lending an atmosphere that might have worked better if less obvious. There was some spanking but mostly an active camera searching out better camera angles without the benefit of decent editing as the ladies went down on each other. They looked good nonetheless.

Summary: Being Jenna by director Chi Chi LaRue for Vivid Entertainment was actually an upgrade from most recent Jenna flicks as far as I was concerned, overcoming some technical deficiencies to provide a decent experience that most of the Jenna fan club holdouts should consider a premium title with "collector" status written all over it. The BTS itself was quite insightful and taken as a package, it merited a rating of Recommended for a more general audience, surprising myself as much as anyone. In short, Being Jenna was more than just a couple of Jenna Jameson scenes packed with filler material for the mindless zombies that still consider her the ultimate porn star, it was a look into her attitudes BEFORE she took the plunge into an ego-laced frenzy that plummeted her worth to the industry below that of even marginal newcomers so check it out and see Jenna before the decline, thanks to the keen eye of Chi Chi LaRue.

For more movies with the lovely blonde bombshell Jenna Jameson in them, check out the following releases on DVD:

I Dream of Jenna 2

Janine Loves Jenna,

Burn,

Jenna Loves Diamonds

Jenna's Gallery Blue

Jenna's Provocateur,

Jenna Loves Justin,

Sophia Syndrome,

Where The Boys Aren't 17,

Jenna Does Carmen,

Jenna's Depraved,