Review by: Dan Deevy

(DanDeevy@TheCinemaSource.com)

OK, let’s get this out of the way right now… Gigli is not a good movie. Most critics have been trashing it and more than that they have enjoyed trashing it. Personally, I think it’s because most people look at a couple like Ben and J. Lo and think, “Damn you! Damn you both for being so pretty and so successful!” So they naturally enjoy watching them fail. I, however, am not most people.

The truth is, this was yet another example of a movie that wasn’t quite sure what it wanted to be. Was it going to be a light hearted romp with a serious edge? Or was it a serious movie with some light hearted moments? I don’t think they were ever quite sure. The scuttlebutt throughout Hollywood is that this disagreement even resulted in a throw down, all out mono-a-mono exchange of blows between the director and one of the producers outside an unsuccessful test screening. Apparently, audiences had objected to the original ending which followed the harsher path and were then equally unhappy with the typical “Hollywood Happy Ending” that they ultimately stuck with.

Happy or sad, bad or good, I still think there were still some redeemable aspects of the movie. For starters, let’s take Jennifer Lopez. Unlike some of her other movies like the man-hating feminist empowering ‘Enough,’ I didn’t spend this one wondering, “Why the hell are trying to act? Sing girl, sing!” I’m not sure if it was the part or the budding romance with Ben, but something happened here that suddenly made her performance a whole lot more genuine and believable. On the flip side though, we have Ben. Good old reliable Ben who is pretty much always Ben in every role he plays, is completely not believable as a strong arm mafia hit man. While I applaud him for trying something different, this was just not his role. To his credit though, despite the fact that he couldn’t pull it off, watching him try was at least still enjoyable. I think the fact that despite all of his success he still seems like the boy from Boston who made it big thanks to his collaboration with his best friend, so I guess I always end up pulling for him to do well even when he clearly isn’t.

As the title character, Gigli, (it rhymes with ‘really’ as he tells us) Ben Affleckis contracted to kidnap and then hold the brother of a federal prosecutor who turns out to be a mentally disabled boy named Brian. Uncertain of Gigli’s abilities’ to handle the job alone, his boss, Lewis played by SOANDSO (who by the way is probably even more miscast as a mob guy than Affleck) assigns yet another hit man to accompany him. Using her mind more than her muscles, J. Lo’s Rochelle is a completely different kind of hit man. As Gigli disappointingly finds out, she’s also a happily practicing lesbian. (Cue the Chasing Amy ...