The New Devil In Miss Jones by Vivid - review by Scoundrel v2

The saving grace of this DVD set is the fact that a disc of the original version is included. I only got a few minutes into the original after viewing the remake, and you can instantly see why it was so well received when it debuted back in the ‘70s. It also underscores how badly the remake overly complicates and fails miserably to relay a very simple story.

In the original the plot is laid out clearly, they keep it simple and it works. Miss Jones is a virgin who is unhappy with her life and commits suicide. When she arrives in purgatory and finds out she cannot go to heaven because suicide is considered to be the worst sin of all. Realizing she is doomed to hell anyway, she pleads with the powers that be to let her go back to the land of the living for a little while, so she can indulge in pleasures of the flesh.

Simple, no? Well not if you watched the remake first, because then you'd have no idea what the fuck was going on. They decided to have the movie be a series of flashbacks, where the story is not explained until the very end. And the acting, or lack thereof, certainly doesn't help matters much.

Maybe I expect too much from my porn in terms of telling story. While the actors in this remake of this porn classic are all attractive enough and provide serviceable visuals, you could have slapped any other name on this movie and it would not have made a difference.

In writing this review, I was going to try and ignore the fact that the story is confusing and distracting. After all this is a fuck flick, not something being submitted for an Oscar. But if you insist on remaking an erotic classic that was lauded for its storyline and the performances of its actors, then you lose points for fucking up that part of the equation.

Another source of annoyance for me was the fact that in the cover art is misleading. The cover clearly shows Jenna Jameson as a brunette, yet in the movie she is sporting her usual blonde look. Being that I prefer brunettes in general this was a major annoyance for me. If she's a blonde in the movie, why is she a brunette in the cover art? Doesn't Vivid have a billion photos of her with her blonde hair, or a copy of photoshop handy? That just seems lazy and sloppy.

Putting these annoyances aside, the remake is a decent if not forgettable flick. The lesbian romp between Rachel Rotten and Jenna, and the orgy scene at the end save this title from being a total disappointment. Savanna Samson is more annoying than appealing and Jenna, despite participating in two scenes, seems to have little more than a walk on role in this, contrary to how prominently she is featured in the artwork and advertising for the film.

This movie somehow won 9 AVN awards, so maybe it was a shit year for porn, but I am hard pressed to see how. Had the rest of the scenes had the heat of the two I mentioned earlier I could see it, but they didn't, so I don't. The porno academy must be far more forgiving than I am.

The bonus disc has additional footage of every scene including the orgy at the end, which if the movie was more like that scene, I would have enjoyed it a lot more.

But again the disc with the original feature is the gem of this set. A simple yet well executed story, decent acting, and real people with real bodies exploring the erotic pleasures of the flesh.

It just goes to show that sometimes bigger is certainly not better.

If you get the chance, check out the original and you'll see why decades later it is still a superior example of Erotica done right.

As for the new version? Well all I can say is, I hope Vivid decides to pass on remaking Behind the Green Door and other porn classics and instead sticks to mainstream movie and television parodies, which they do much better at remaking and perverting.