Lesbian screenwriter and director Angela Robinson aims high with her first movie, the comic spy spoof D.E.B.S. and delivers an assured debut that's as zippy as the dark blue VW Beetle the teen crime fighters of the title zoom around in. A gay romance disguised as a black comedy, Robinson's film combines several disparate genres: action, teen romance and queer cinema. The resulting hybrid, a sort of cross between Charlie's Angels, But I'm A Cheerleader and multiple teen flicks, might not completely satisfy any of these audiences ( it skimps on the Chop-Socky and there's no Natasha Lyonne-Clea DuVall sex scene to be seen ) . But it's a tasty little snack pack of a movie, nevertheless, that offers plenty of laughs, lots of great sight gags and some sharp observations of teen behavior—all delivered in just over 90 minutes.
The D.E.B.S. ( and I was never quite sure what that was short for ) are an elite squad of young ladies who have been recruited for a top secret government agency, a sort of finishing school for spies. Naturally, this agency requires the comely young lassies to wear the shortest of skirts, live together in a big Victorian mansion, sorority style, and attend D.E.B.S. academy.
We learn all this in the movie's fast-paced opening as the lead characters are called to an emergency meeting with the Academy's President ( Michael Clarke Duncan ) . There's Amy ( Sara Foster ) the blonde, who's just broken up with her square-jawed hunky boyfriend, Dominique ( Devon Aoki ) , who's French ( so naturally she smokes constantly and is a tart ) , Max ( Meagan Good ) , the intense leader of the squad who's all business ( and a dead ringer for Vivica A. Fox ) , and Janet ( Jill Ritchie ) , the newbie who has yet to earn her stripes ( and keeps her gun stashed in her teddy bear ) . At the meeting the headmistress of the Academy ( Holland Taylor in yet another of her frosty bitch goddess roles ) , informs them that the dreaded arch villain Lucy Diamond ( Jordana Brewster—a young Demi Moore look-a-like ) has resurfaced for a meeting with Russian assassin Ninotchka ( Jessica Cauffiel in a funny, over-the-top bit ) and it's up to the D.E.B.S. to get her.
We quickly learn that Lucy Diamond is being set up on a blind date with Ninotchka ( who sports some serious cleavage ) by her loyal henchman, Scud ( Jimmi Simpson ) , who later forms an attachment with Janet ( though I think a sequel will find him finding true love with a nice young boy ) . Naturally, the stakeout goes awry and as the bullets fly overhead, the course of True Love is set in motion. It's Romy and Juliet from that point out with comedic action sequences and music montages tossed in on the road to Happily Ever After. Robinson's hot soundtrack varies from the typical teen wall of rock guitars, however, and happily mirrors the action on the screen for once ( I especially loved her use of The Cure's 'Love Cats' as a courtship song for the two lady loves ) . In true sitcom style, various subplots ( Will Janet win her stripes? Will Max get leadership of the squad back? ) add nice diversion from the fairy tale romance.
The scenic design of D.E.B.S., which takes off from the dark blue, black-and-white plaid school girl skirts, beautifully backdrops the movie and places the luscious cast in beautiful shadowboxes, giving the scenes a dark gleam that's an interesting contrast to the expected hot, bright colors of most spy spoofs. Though the spy parody stuff seems to disappear after the opening scenes, I didn't mind veering off in another direction as, let's face it, the Austin Powers movies have exhausted the genre ( I wish the long-announced Rupert Everett gay spy 007 parody had happened, however ) .
Robinson has announced that she wants to make blockbuster movies and D.E.B.S. is certainly a good start toward that goal ( it also nicely paves the way for her major studio comedy, Herbie: Fully Loaded, out from Disney this summer ) . She's quickly gone from a $3 million budget here to $70 million for Herbie. I hope they give her $200 million and she decides to do a big gay blockbuster hybrid. Maybe even Rupert Everett could play one of the leads.
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Samara, the evil, dead little girl with the Crystal Gayle hair, is back in The Ring Two. So is ace reporter Rachel Keller ( Naomi Watts ) , Aidan ( David Dorfman ) , her mostly somnambulant kid with the dark circles under his eyes, and a couple of teens who need to watch that tape before time is up and Samara gets them.
The Ring was a genuinely unnerving experience—mainly because it quickly dispensed with the tired formulas of the standard issue teen horror picture and settled into a suspense mystery that actually had moments of mystery and suspense. The outcome was never in doubt, but how it got there, like all good mysteries, was—and Watts was allowed to show intelligence, spirit, and a few character flaws ( like being less than a perfect mother ) .
In the sequel, however, Rachel's shifted into full-tilt mommy mode and when she and Aidan are once again inevitably plagued by the nasty Samara, she's not given a chance to use her intelligence until much too late in the game. The picture's mostly a water logged ( literally ) mess of special effects taking the place of a good mystery story. Many new characters and plots are tossed into this raging flood of effects and are just as quickly washed away. It is not a surprise nor a disservice, therefore, to relate that you will once again find yourself at the bottom of the well with that little trouble maker. Nor will it be a surprise to learn that everyone connected with this movie has gone to that particular well once too often, not least of which is the audience.
