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It's all about the hair—great flouncing manes that come alive every time Barrymore, Diaz or Liu toss their heads, which they do in just about every scene of Charlie's Angels, a breezily entertaining action comedy based on the fondly remembered if silly TV series that ran from 1976 to 1981. The movie may be hair today, gone tomorrow, but for the 92 minutes these three shake their tresses—and much else—onscreen, it's high-energy, dumb fun.
This postfeminist updating of the show never suffers from taking itself too seriously. A good thing that, since no one has bothered to devise much by way of plot or characters. Rather, we get three feisty babes—Dylan (Barrymore), Natalie (Diaz) and Alex (Liu)—who make up, as Alex succinctly puts it, "an elite crime-fighting team backed by an anonymous millionaire." Said millionaire is the unseen Charlie (John Forsythe, the sole holdover from the series), who here assigns the trio to find a kidnapped software mogul (Rockwell).
The story is merely an excuse for the shapely Angels to parade about in skintight togs (none seems to have mastered zipping a jumpsuit higher than her navel), karate-chop and kick the bad guys (no guns for these gals) and flirt with their boyfriends (look for cameos by Barrymore's real-life fiancé, Tom Green, her ex-beau Luke Wilson and Friends' Matt LeBlanc). Director McG, a music-video vet making his first film, shows a knack for both comedy and action, and martial-arts choreographer Cheung-Yan Yuen has all three stars doing high kicks that put the Rockettes to shame. Each actress gets her moment, with Barrymore's ringleader making the strongest impression; Murray, playing Bosley, the trio's conduit to Charlie, is woefully underutilized. (PG-13)
Bottom Line: Angels rule!
Matt Damon, Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Jack Lemmon
Having already starred in or directed movies about skiing (1969's Downhill Racer), baseball (1984's The Natural) and fly-fishing (1992's A River Runs Through It), Robert Redford now turns to golf—the world's most boring game, at least to watch onscreen. Like those earlier films, The Legend of Bagger Vance is about more than sports: It heavy-handedly equates mastering hitting a ball into a hole with solving the mysteries of life. Though competently acted, this too-tidy drama is one big yawn.
Damon plays a former golden boy named Rannulph Junah, who was once the best golfer in the South. He loses his emotional bearings, and his golf game, on the battlefields of World War I. Flash forward to Savannah in the early '30s, when his long-estranged fiancée (Theron) coaxes an alcoholic, reclusive Junah into appearing in an exhibition she's sponsoring featuring real-life legends Walter Hagen and Bobby Jones. Showing up out of nowhere to coach Junah is Bagger Vance (Smith), a mysterious caddy who talks like Deepak Chopra, nattering on about how each of us has an "authentic swing" (schwing, maybe, but swing?) and how everything will be okay if we can just find it.
Redford does all that he can to make Vance's numerous golf scenes seem exciting—we're treated to club-cam and fairway-cam—but even Tiger Woods couldn't save this one. (PG-13)
Bottom Line: Swing and a miss
John Travolta, Lisa Kudrow, Tim Roth
The good folks of Harrisburg, Pa., deserve an apology from director Nora Ephron, screenwriter Adam Resnick (who himself hails from Pennsylvania's capital) and all others involved with this exceedingly sour black comedy. Rarely have all the residents of a single city been depicted as so venal and/or dumb.
Reuniting with Ephron after 1996's Michael, Travolta here plays a debt-plagued TV weatherman who helps fix the state lottery. The scheme unravels and distrust festers between Travolta and his coconspirators, including an avaricious sexpot (Kudrow, once again showing off perfect comic timing) who is the station's lottery girl.
Although a few lines are amusing ("Put a motor on it, Jack," Kudrow yells at the Amish driver of a horse-drawn carriage), these ruthless (and stupid) people wear out their welcome fast. (R)
Bottom Line: Bad bet
Nathalie Baye, Bulle Ogier
Tinkle, tinkle, tinkle. The chimes sound every time someone opens or closes the front door of a Parisian beauty spa, the primary setting for this appealing French romantic comedy, winner of four major César awards (including best picture), the Gallic equivalent of the Oscars. The movie's heroine, Angèle (Baye), works at the salon giving facials and other beauty treatments to a parade of loquacious clients. Between ministrations, Angèle tends to her own complicated love life. She is given to brief affairs, has an ex-husband who's still in the picture, and is being enthusiastically pursued by Antoine (Samuel Le Bihan), who falls head over heels for Angèle upon overhearing a beau dump her at a cafe.
Venus is about believing in the possibility of starting over in life or love, just as customers of the spa hope a new lipstick will transform them. It also offers the chance to see Baye, 52 (and still best known stateside for 1982's The Return of Martin Guerre), dig into the sort of nuanced, complex role that actresses her age in Hollywood mostly find only on TV these days. (Not rated)
Bottom Line: More than skin-deep
>Billy Elliot Totally charming English comedy about an 11-year-old boy who loves ballet tutu much for his dad. (R)
The Contender Luridly entertaining political thriller profiles a woman nominee involved in a sex scandal. Stars Jeff Bridges and Joan Allen. (R)
The Little Vampire A kiddie comedy about a boy (Jonathan Lipnicki) who befriends a family of vampires. Although the undead here only suck blood from cows, who really wants to get into explaining the ins and outs of Draculadom to a nightmare-prone 6-year-old? (PG)
Once in the Life Laurence Fishburne wrote, directed and stars in a grim little character study about a trio of neighborhood lowlifes involved in drug dealing. Based on a play by Fishburne, the movie starts off energetically but soon feels stage-bound.(R)
Pay It Forward Pay it no mind. Even talented Helen Hunt and Kevin Spacey can't save this sanctimonious, manipulative piece of Hollywood hooey. (PG-13)
Two Family House Heartfelt comedy-drama about an Italian-American factory worker (Michael Rispoli) in 1950s New York City who buys a ramshackle house on Staten Island with dreams of turning the downstairs into a bar where he can croon love songs. Worth seeking out. (R)
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
