Fun frolics, pretty girls and energy are all this film is based on, but what else do you need?
It starts with a non-sensical, James Bond style, opener, involving a bomber who gets paid in diamonds to blow up a plane. But, surely a suicide bomber would do it for some fanatical reason and not to get paid? Also what is he going to do with the diamonds and why would the person paying him be on the plane that is going to blow up? I’m sure originally it made some sense but many rewrites down the road you can see how to many cooks spoilt the script. Like James Bond the opening is over-the-top and fringes on the ‘Oh my Word, why did I bother pay for this’ area. Unlike Bond though, it accepts, and even revels, in it absurdity setting up a quite likeable tongue-in-cheek tone to film. ‘This could be the making of something new and brilliant,’ you think to yourself.
The pantomime and self-parody theme continues with an elongated scene that mainly involves Diaz shaking her booty, NON STOP, to camera for at least a minute. You realise that it’s mocking itself as it is so convoluted but also you get to enjoy… well… you know.
And so the narrative rolls on quite nicely, never getting overly bogged down in plot. If there is a sophisticated security system then they just clad Diaz in a skin-tight white costume and make her jump around a bit, at least it gives another excuse for more shots of her rear-end. And you can’t complain about that. I think I’m getting overly obsessed but Diaz’s cheeks but it is even in the final image of the film where they all run about on the beach. The ‘they’ are the other angels, Lucy Liu and Drew Barrymore, and Bosley, played by Bill Murray. All act quite impressively and fit their roles perfectly, and of course the other ladies prance about in tight costumes and Barrymore constantly flaunts her ample cleavage.
My biggest problem with the film is probably the Destiny’s Child theme tune, with such inspired and profound lyrics as “Charlie how’d’ya angels get down like that.” A little tear wells up in my eye when I hear this, for the writers of the song, and there were loads, couldn’t have been mere mortals.
So you may wonder why I’ve only given three stars, and it is because of the unusual glossy cinematography that every shot seems to have. The look of the film always jars as McG (the director not the burger) is desperate to create the frenetic visual style that a film like this needs but doesn’t have the filmic experience to carry it off. He adds loads of gloss to substitute any genuinely inventive camerawork. As Spike Jonze proved in ‘Being John Malkovich,’ no matter how bizarre the idea is as long as it has a crystal clear direction, it can be a success. You wonder how good this film could have been if only its final image was more focussed.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 1977 - Action/Adventure - Director: Clint Eastwood - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring:Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Pat Hingle, William Prince, Bill McKinney
Production Year: 2002 - Action/Adventure - Director: Vincenzo Natali - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring:Lucy Liu, David Hewlett, Anne Marie Scheffler, Joseph Scoren, Matthew Sharp, Jeremy Northam
Production Year: 1964 - Action/Adventure - Director: Cyril Endfield - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring:Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth, Michael Caine, Nigel Green
HappilyCharlie's Angelsis a surprisingly successful TV-into-movie update of the seminal ... more
1970s jiggle show. Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore (who also produced) and Lucy Liu star as the hair-tossing, fashion-setting, kung-fu fighting trio employed by the my...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
HappilyCharlie's Angelsis a surprisingly successful TV-into-movie update of the seminal ... more
1970s jiggle show. Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore (who also produced) and Lucy Liu star as the hair-tossing, fashion-setting, kung-fu fighting trio employed by the my...
Postage & Packaging: free Super Saver Delivery Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu are Charlie's Angels - a trio of elite private ... more
investigators who, with the latest in high-tech gadgets, martial arts techniques and a vest array of disguises, unleash their state-of-the-art skills on land, sea ...
Advantages: Anything that has Cameron Diaz in it, wet and 'unzipped' to the waist has got to get 5 stars Disadvantages: not sure Lucy Liu was the right casting for the 3rd 'Angel'
flashpointz 27.08.2002 (27.08.2002)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Charlie's Angels (DVD)
Advantages: Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz... Disadvantages: The most stupid film ever, even worse than The Avengers, possibly as bad as Batman and Robin
![Charlie's Angels [DVD] [2000]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78545971.jpg "Charlie's Angels [DVD] [2000]")
Apr 20th, 2001
(Apr 21st, 2001)
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