Charlie's Angels Review
by Susan Granger (Ssg722 AT aol DOT com)November 4th, 2000
http://www.susangranger.com/
Susan Granger's review of "CHARLIE'S ANGELS" (Columbia Pictures)
Their mission? To have fun and entertain you. Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu are covert investigators working for Bosley, played by Bill Murray. They're assigned to foil an elaborate murder-revenge scheme that could destroy individual privacy worldwide. A technology mogul (Sam Rockwell) has been kidnapped, along with his voice-recognition software. The prime suspect (Tim Curry) owns the world's largest telecommunications satellite network. So much for plot. The fun is in the goofy acti on adventure as the sexy trio jumps out of planes, masters high-tech gadgetry, kicks, punches, and cavorts, while donning various disguises, under the direction of McG, whose previous experience was in fast-paced music videos/commercials - and it shows. In this riff on the old action/comedy TV series, writers Ryan Rowe, Ed Solomon and John August put the emphasis on bright, bouncy, clever and, most of all, empowered contemporary women, not on weaponry. Actually, only the evil guys, like Crispin Glover, use guns. Credit Chinese martial arts master Cheung-Yan Yuen ("The Matrix") for training the Angels. It's great when Drew takes out thugs while tied to a chair with her hands bound and when Cameron chats on a cellphone while battling baddies! Tom Green adds little as "The Chad," but he's Drew's real-life fiance, as well as her on-screen beau, and she not only stars but produces. Luke Wilson and Matt LeBlanc play the other Angels' dumb boy-friends, and John Forsythe still voices Charlie. Too bad there's so li ttle of Bill Murray, that the plot's so convoluted, and that many of the hokey '70s jokes fall flat on the youthful audience. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Charlie's Angels" is a sleek, sassy, sexy 7. It's packed chock full of jiggles and giggles as the babes kick butt.
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