Some movies are made just for the fun of it. "Charlie's Angels" is one of those movies.
The heroines, Natalie (Cameron Diaz), Dylan (Drew Barrymore) and Alex (Lucy Liu), kick bad-guy ass with big grins on their faces throughout the movie. They are definitely having fun, pulling off karate stunts and parading around in skintight clothes.
Directed by McG, better known as a music video director, the film has plenty of glossy stunts to hold the audience's attention. The stunts are what keep this movie going - when there is no action the movie is slow and it become painfully apparent that the storyline is a lame excuse for a plot.
The flimsy construct of the plot has the Angels rescuing a bumbling soft-ware mogul, Eric Knox, from the clutches of his rival, Roger Corwin (Tim Curry) and making sure Knox's voice-impersonation software does not fall into the wrong hands. The voice of Charlie Townsend (John Forsythe) guides the Angels in a calm, mysterious manner.
The Angels stop at nothing to achieve their mission, including licking steering wheels and playing chicken with the enemy in drag racing cars.
The action scenes mimic "The Matrix," with excessive slow-motion karate kicks and bullet dodging, and when the Angels break into the enemy's high-security mainframe, flashbacks from "Mission Impossible" are inevitable.
The action scene spoofs are not the only comedy in the film. Nerdy Natalie is hilarious in her attempts to pick up a guy and dance on "Soul Train." Tom Green is thrown in the mix, providing laughs as Chad, a desperate fishing boat captain. Bill Murray is not used to his full potential as Bosley, the mediator between Charlie and the Angels; he gives the movie only minimal comedic value.
The film is meant to appeal to the teenage male crowd, for obvious reasons, but draws teenage girls in as well by portraying intelligent, independent women who viciously fight crime while balancing love interests and careers. There is absolutely no intellectual value to the film, and older crowds are sure to hate it if they don't recognize that the film has no pretenses but to be fun.
