Love in the Digital Age

I was pleasantly surprised to see this new title from Jacky St. James, not from her recent stomping ground of Sweet Sinner but a return of sorts to the label that launched her Adult career, New Sensations, as part of their long-running Romance series.

It reunites the stars of her NS 2016 release "The Proposal", Gia Paige and Logan Pierce, in a very fine balance of explicit XXX content and an engrossing topical script about the effect of our internet/cell phone culture on traditional dating and romance.

Gia stars as a young woman who we see mistreated by selfish boyfriend Tyler Nixon, who delights in posting nude photos of her on his social media pages without permission. She drops him, and with cousin Kenna James enters into a pact with Kenna's Old School mom Mona Wales: the two youngsters will give up entirely their use of cell phones during lent, while ma Wales will agree to take up the digital whirl and sign up for on-line dating.

The romantic complications facing the three women provide ample fodder for Jacky to comment on various aspects of the title dilemma, with her perceptive script giving equal time to both poles: the Luddite faction versus modernists. Sex scenes are very well done, and it all adds up to a more entertaining feature than most mainstream rom-coms of late.

Acting is exemplary, including Logan Pierce juggling a central and tricky role of a misogynist radio host with a heart of gold. One minor defect that proved highly distracting to me was casting Gia when she seems either pregnant - swelling breasts and belly, or perhaps merely post-breast enhancement surgery, while her svelte self in previous roles is drastically different. (DVD even includes a trailer for "The Proposal" that only amplifies this contrast.) Perhaps I'll get used to the new, not necessarily improved, Gia in future.