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> CHARLIE'S ANGELS (2000)
Heavy on the cheese, Charlie's Angels is everything you would expect from a Y2K revamp of the classic television series.

By John C. Lyons
Film Critic

Directed by: Joseph McGinty Nichol

Written by: CIvan Goff (TV series) and Ben Roberts

Genre: Comedy/Action

Starring: Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu, Bill Murray

Our Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Scantily clad babes, solving crimes, with lots tongue in cheek. At 23 I really have not gotten the chance to see too much of the original series, but I knew enough going in to know what to expect, and I must say I was entertained for all the right reasons by Charlie's Angels. Yeah, it is cheesy, sure it is frequently over-the-top, but would you really expect anything else?

Drew Barrymore acquired the rights for this franchise and it was basically hers to do with as she pleased, from start to finish (she gets a "producer" listing also in the credits). This has been a big problem for some Hollywood stars (Battlefield Earth ala John Travolta and Kevin Costner's The Postman), but it seems like Drew played this one pretty smart. I can remember all the casting rumors for the bombshells early in the project's development. I had my favorites for the rumored actresses (Catherine Zeta-Jones and Thandie Newton); however, I must admit that I was quit pleased with the group they ended up signing. Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, and Lucy Liu round out the babes, and Bill Murray adds some comedic flavor as Bosley. The film was well cast, each "Angel" has her own individual traits/skills and they all work really well together. This connection seemed to be genuine also, onscreen and off, which is nice to see.

This film is a fun popcorn flick for the PG-13 and over crowd. The plot is rather simple, but interesting enough to make it worth your time. The bad guys have stolen some voice recognition software and plan to use it to invade people's privacy, and the "Angels" must stop them and save the world. As would be expected, the voice of Charlie gives them their mission and off they go. Of course no one is paying money to be lost in an intelligent plot here, we want to see Cameron, Drew, and Lucy kick some ass, and look sweet in doing it! I'll tell you, the costume people were busy in this movie. You could easily lose track trying to count the number of outfits these ladies wear (I'd say in the least a different outfit in every scene). As for the action, well you get a lot of that too.

The only item of note that really bothered me about the movie was that some of the action was a little too far-fetched, even for a movie of this kind. There are a lot of borrowed elements and influences by films like The Matrix. Movies like The Art of War really misused this style of action, but I think that Charlie's Angels actually worked with it pretty well. The flaws here are mainly ones of common sense. Yes, the "Angels" are trained in the martial arts, they pull off some pretty unbelievable stunts, but they cannot fly. In The Matrix the characters were in a world where they could alter reality and bend the rules a bit, this made the action sequences in that film more believable. However, when the women of Charlie's Angels suddenly defy gravity, then it becomes a little hard to swallow. At any rate this is a small gripe and really the "over action" was my only real problem with the film. I would recommend it strictly as a popcorn flick. One more note, there are a TON of sexual innuendoes that maybe the kiddies should not hear or see until they get a bit older, and that is what the PG-13 rating is for.

I took in this film at the Tinseltown theaters on upper Peach Street in Erie.

What I liked: As the ads for the film read: "Get Some Action", "T & A", you definitely get what you pay for, oftentimes very blatantly. Great cast. Very entertaining. Can you say….sequel?

What I didn't like: When the "Angels" grow invisible wings and fly around, apparently the growing of the wings scenes were cut out during editing.

(00-1130)

related links:

Charlie's Angels - official page