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 harlie's Angels", the feature length
re-incarnation of the slightly popular (I suppose, I was never a big fan) of the
1970s TV show, is the kind of film that tests one's ability to laugh at
mediocrity. Which is to say "Charlie's Angels" lacks any semblance of
quality or worth, save for its ability to lunge headfirst into Goofball Parody
with glee. Don't get me wrong, I liked "Charlie's Angels." It's a
riotously funny film, even though I suspect the filmmakers were going for a more
tongue-in-cheek approach. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your POV),
one tends to laugh at the movie rather than laugh with it.
The film follows 3 women, the "angels" of the
title, who are (from what I can gather) private, er, private investigators. That
is, they're PI's, but they only work for one man named Charlie who assigns them,
well, assignments. Who Charlie is, or whom he works for, isn't exactly clear; we
hear his voice, but never see his face. In those respects, the film takes its
cue directly from the TV show. The movie's premise (and I use the term loosely)
concerns our heroines being hired to retrieve a stolen super-duper device to its
rightful owner, but there are double crosses waiting ahead. And as we all know,
double crosses always complicate matters.
The main goal of movies such as "Charlie's
Angels" is, first and foremost, to entertain, and "Angels"
certainly lives up to the hype. As directed by music video veteran McG (no, I
don't know his real name), the movie is one flamboyant TV commercial for
cleavage, skin-tight clothing, and wire-fu. Wire-fu, as many fans of Hong Kong
action films know, is the filmmaking technique of using thin, barely visible
wires attached to actors to give them the impression of flying or performing
gravity-defying feats. "The
Matrix" popularized the technique for Western audiences, but Hong Kong
films have been doing it forever.
A throwaway plot aside, "Charlie's Angels" should
be sued, and then incarcerated, for multiple grand thefts. The film is chock
full of questionable stunts, but the real kicker is the undeniable conclusion
that director McG lacks any ability to come up with his own original
choreography. Every single stunt in the film, from the opening airplane sequence
to the final fights in and around a castle, are copied directly from other,
better movies. And this, frankly, is what makes me frown upon "Charlie's
Angels". If you're going to steal, at least try to cover up your
theft; a little effort goes a long way.
Blatant thefts aside, "Charlie's Angels" is also
memorable for trying to convince us that chunky monkey Drew Barrymore can do
other things beside strut around looking like a dumb blonde. (I believe
Barrymore has a producer's credit on the film, which might explain her presence.
She is hopelessly out of her class standing next to her co-stars.) The presence
of the delightfully risqué Cameron Diaz ("The
Sweetest Thing") and tough-as-nails Lucy Liu ("Payback")
elevates the film to a threshold that makes it a guilty pleasure.
It goes without saying that "Charlie's Angels" is
a silly film uninterested in taking anything seriously. It's mostly fun and the
action sequences by the girls as they take on multiple opponents separately and
at once are good for, if nothing else, a laugh.
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