Sometimes you see a movie released and form a negative impression of it based upon the performance of its peers rather than upon any real evidence about the movie itself to support your distrust. Despite getting some rather decent reviews at the time, Charlie's Angels was a movie I personally had vowed to avoid as being just another lame Hollywood attempt to cash in on the successes of retro TV shows. Having already suffered the atrocious mess they made of The Avengers that year as well as having sat through the likes of The Partridge Family, The Beverly Hillbillies, Mission Impossible, Wild, Wild West(yes, that was based on a 60s TV show no one remembers) and countless other dire pieces of TV tie-in tripe I wasn't about to even consider shelling out for more of the same!

Charlie's Angels is, as I hinted at and I'm sure you already know anyway, based upon the popular 70s TV show of the same name which was arguably the very first example of mainstream girl power to assault the public eye. Hitting the screens in 1976(although it was during the 80's that I saw it), it ran for 5 seasons, changing cast several times but most well remembered for its original three angels of Farrah Fawcett, Jaclyn Smith and Kate Jackson who were a crime fighting team sent on missions by the disembodied voice of 'Charlie' who we never ever got to actually see, but who was the girls' mentor and boss. Apparently, there were to be cameos from these three in the movie but Fawcett demanded a larger role than the other two(ahhh sweet vanity...) and the whole thing fell through. Instead, we have three new angels played by Cameron Diaz, Lucy Liu and Drew Barrymore...which plays nicely upon the eye candy appeal of the original anyway for us guys... ;o)

We are soon introduced to Bosley(Bill Murray), the owner of the detective agency through which Charlie speaks to his girls. They have a case, the owner of some kind of techie company has been kidnapped by his rival Roger Corwin(played by Tim Curry) and the girls must step in to save him, battling against all kinds of twists and baddies including the brilliant Crispin Glover as the silent but deadly 'Thin Man', probably the best on-screen villain I've seen this year! Umm, in all reality the plot is rather inconsequential and possible even a little over-egged because no one is going to be interested in the kinds of twists it does offer, but it does serve as an excellent framework for a surprisingly entertaining movie.

Diaz throws herself into the role of ditzy blonde with enormous enthusiasm and is simply radiant throughout, Drew Barrymore too is equally superb and both are perfect for their respective roles. Lucy Liu is an actress who I don't think has really proven herself on the big screen yet although this is undoubtedly her best performance...but she lacks much of the charisma needed to pull it off and really suffers in the shade of two of Hollywood's most charismatic. Having Charlie voiced by the original actor is a nice touch and Bill Murray is easily one of the most dependable comedy actors around and although in a small supporting role, is as excellent as ever. Perhaps the only real weak link are the bad guys in the movie because Tim Curry is a little on the lame side as a baddie to be honest. I like Curry, but somehow he doesn't seem to offer anything convincing for this role. On the other hand, Crispin Glover, makes up for this all by himself without uttering a single word throughout. Oh yeah and Tom Green has possibly the most annoying cameo role ever as boat owner Chad...or "the Chad" as he keeps calling himself...umm, yeah, less said the better!