As
moviegoers, we suffer through dozens of cliché-riddled romantic-comedies each
year. I can think of six such movies, all formulaic and all indistinguishable
from one another, which were released since the beginning of 2003. Gigli
is an unconventional romantic-comedy, the type of movie that is rarely financed
by large studios. It is also living proof that films require more than a
deviation from the standard formula to be enjoyable.
Gigli
stars Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, the highly-publicized couple who have
appeared in more tabloid magazines than both Lobster Boy and Bigfoot combined.
The press has expressed much skepticism towards Ben and J. Lo’s on-screen
chemistry, and unjustly so. While the lovebirds have both gelled better with
other on-screen partners in their previous work (Affleck with Gwyneth Paltrow in
Bounce/Lopez with George Clooney in Out of Sight), in this case,
I’d blame the material they have to work with more than the lovers themselves.
Ben Affleck
plays the title character, Larry Gigli (pronounced Gee-ly), a second-rate
loanshark who is constantly belittled by his hardass boss (Lenny Venito). His
latest assignment is to kidnap the younger brother of a Los Angeles prosecutor,
who happens to be mentally handicap, and hold him hostage so that a renowned
mobster (Al Pacino) can resolve his legal problems. Since Larry is considered to
be a fuck up, aid is sent to him in the form of Ricki (Jennifer Lopez), a smooth
talking criminal who (sweet irony!) happens to be gay.
So Affleck
and Lopez baby-sit Brian (Justin Bartha), the handicap teenager who also suffers
from tourettes, while building loads and loads of sexual tension.
As one of
Hollywood's most charismatic actors, Ben Affleck can barely be imagined in a
bland role, but in Gigli, his character could not be engaging even if
he had Will Hunting as a best friend. Larry spends the entire film cursing and
overreacting to every situation, keeping the audience at a distance. I had
checked out emotionally from the film long before the end credits. Affleck does
provide numerous laughs, but I can’t think of many actors who’d be capable
of doing so were they cast in the same role.
I do wish
writer-director Martin Breast would understand the difference between
unconventional humor and inappropriate humor. A suicide attempt certainly
isn’t typical in romantic-comedies, but if the scene does not benefit the
story (in the case of Gigli, it’s not even relevant to the story), then
I usually feel like the director is killing time. Between Meet Joe Black
and Gigli, Breast has killed a lot of time.
How does a
filmmaker who is responsible for some of the most entertaining movies in history
(Midnight Run, Beverly Hills Cop) churn-out something like Gigli?
Who knows, but in a film where the only character you remotely care about is an
obscenity-spewing adolescent lifted right out of Rain Man, you know some
elements are not working.
GRADE: C-
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-Copyright
2003 by Shaun
Sages