Charlie’s Angels
Directed by McG.
Starring Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu, Bill Murray, Kelly Lynch, Sam Rockwell, Crispin Glover, Tim Curry, and the voice of John Forsyth.
I have to confess. I only saw this movie for a purely male reason. When I saw the first few commercials, I thought it looked kinda stupid. Then, I saw the ad featuring Diaz dancing around in nothing more than a tight T-shirt and Spider-Man jockey shorts. As soon as I saw that, I knew I had to see this movie.
Natalie (Diaz), Dylan (Barrymore) and Alex (Liu) are three super-sluths who work for the never-seen Charlie (voice of Forsyth). They are assisted in their work by Bosley, a liaison between them and Charlie, played by my childhood favorite, Bill Murray. Their latest mission is to rescue Eric Knox (Rockwell), one of those super-geeks who makes Bill Gates look like, well, me. It seems that his new voice recognition software is a hot commodity, so he’s been kidnapped by his corporate enemy Roger Corwin (played by another favorite of mine, Tim Curry), and the software stolen. So, the Angels are hired to go find Knox and recover the software. But, as is always the case in movies like these, all is not as it seems, as our heroes are double-crossed, triple-crossed, betrayed, and soon find themselves on a life-or-death mission to save Charlie. Can the Angels save the day, and do it wearing a lot of skimpy outfits and while contending with their boyfriend troubles?
This movie is a true Hollywood product. The soundtrack is filled with nothing but recent top 10 hits. The fight scenes are reminiscent of The Matrix. The plot is generic for this kind of movie. They borrowed my favorite scene from True Lies. And, there are enough explosions, sexual innuendo and jiggly breasts to get that very lucrative males aged 18-24 demographic. Well, being in that target demographic, I liked the movie for what it was: big, dumb, goofy fun. As many a critic has said in the past, “Be sure to check your brain at the door.” I sure wish they used more of Murray, though. Is it just me, or is he an actor aching for a comeback? So, you’ll like it, as long as you don’t expect a lot of substance.