A neat thing about the “Charlie’s Angels” franchise is that it’s one big saga, with the 1976-81 TV series, the 2000-03 movies, the short-lived 2011 TV series and the new movie (opening Friday) taking place in the same universe. This is possible because it’s a simple premise: The independently wealthy man of the title (voiced by John Forsythe in the first two incarnations) hires out his trained-from-youth agents for missions that require them to achieve objectives and escape huge explosions by microseconds.
Jumping into the action
“Charlie’s Angels” (2000) quickly states its premise and shows brief backstory clips of this new batch of Angels: Life-loving Natalie (Cameron Diaz), reformed bad girl Dylan (Drew Barrymore) and skilled-at-everything-except-baking Alex (Lucy Liu). Even if we haven’t watched the TV series, we grasp the concept immediately. This is “Mission: Impossible” if “M:I” had no cynicism at all and a smidgen of ADHD.
Director McG and his team know exactly what kind of movie they want to make. It’s laid out in the opening segment wherein a Charles Townsend Agency agent (LL Cool J) stops an airplane bomber by tackling him out of the airlock. After a midair scuffle that paves the way for what “Iron Man 3” would later achieve, the agent lands on Natalie’s speedboat and removes the fake face to reveal Barrymore’s Dylan.
“Charlie’s Angels” (2000) and “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle” (2003)
Director: McG
Writers: Ryan Rowe, Ed Solomon, Ivan Goff, Ben Roberts, John August
Stars: Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu
Most important to setting the stage, though, is that Barrymore and Diaz unleash big smiles at the camera – as does Liu, to the degree she’s able. These gals aren’t merely good at their job; they love it, too.
“Angels” plays to the strengths of its actresses, as the missions usually involve one of them distracting a villain (and disarming male moviegoers’ critical lens) with their feminine wiles; for example, Dylan gives a driver an eyeful of cleavage while Alex plants tracking equipment in the trunk.
I’m not a fan of the hip-hop that scores many of the fights, as was the style of the time (see also the “Lara Croft” and “Blade” films). When Dylan gets to bust baddies’ heads to Blur’s “Song 2,” it plays a better. The fights are highly stylized post-“Matrix,” concurrent-with-“Crouching Tiger” wire work.
Overboard on the explosions
Considering how expensive and time-consuming movie explosions must be, “Angels” goes overboard. There are so many ’splosions that they become rote, and there’s never any suspense over whether our heroines will escape.
The personal lives of the Angels are spices on the cake of the schemes and action. Natalie and Pete (Luke Wilson) have a cute, innocent romance. Dylan, who sleeps around but isn’t portrayed as flawed for doing so, isn’t really into Chad (Tom Green), but she’s not mean to him. Alex’s boyfriend, Jason (Matt LeBlanc), is dim for not realizing she’s a full-time secret agent, but he’s no worse than Joey from “Friends.”
Bosley (Bill Murray) is the handler of the Angels, and he does his share of pratfalling. Natalie is even ditzier, as illustrated by her preoccupation with Pete over the mission. Yet their superb training is a given; there are no instances where the trio stumbles into success like a campier film might do.
“Charlie’s Angels” connects on about 75 percent of its humor and hijinks. Green’s shtick doesn’t play well, and Murray isn’t given great material. Diaz nails it in a couple of dance numbers, including one to Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back” where she wins over a club with effortlessly sexy moves that emphasize her hindquarters. Orange-haired Barrymore is cute but feisty in her romance/rivalry with Eric (Sam Rockwell). Liu’s bad-chef running gag is only palatable the first time.
By the time it’s over, you’ve gotten the movie-watching nutritional equivalent of that box of Mike and Ike’s you gobbled down: None. But it was tasty.
The wrong instinct
With more fun (and explosions) to be had – and more money to be made – this big-screen batch of Angels returns one more time for “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle” (2003). As often happens in sequels, it’s darker and aims for more depth, but that’s not quite right for this franchise, and this is ultimately a lesser effort. I like the gag that Dylan always falls for the bad boy, but Justin Theroux’s revenge-seeking Seamus is sometimes a bit much.
Still, McG and company understand that the core of the franchise is the three Angels functioning as a team, and there’s never any rift there. Barrymore, the most actor-y of the bunch, has the “serious” arc; Diaz shakes her butt some more; and Liu’s bad-chef gag is replaced with a running bit wherein Alex’s dad (John Cleese) misunderstands her profession. Thanks to an unclear explanation from LeBlanc’s Jason, Alex’s dad thinks she’s a prostitute, so everything Alex says is a double entendre. I found the gag obvious and long-winded – but humor is subjective.
So is the thrill a viewer gets from cameos. While “Full Throttle” puts a lot of money on the screen via the stunt/CGI work (including a remarkable amount of mid-air action), it also strikes me as a rare movie that goes out of its way to spend money rather than be efficient.
Absurd number of cameos
The amount of big-name cameos is absurd, including Bruce Willis (perhaps visiting wife Demi Moore, who plays a former Angel?) in a brief non-speaking role that could’ve been done by anyone. Carrie Fisher continues her career path of racking up single-scene turns (“Scream 3,” “Fanboys”), playing a nun in an expository scene that fails to glean laughs by having Fisher smack a stick whenever an Angel misbehaves.
Again, Bosley is a comedian – this time, Bernie Mac – who is asked to use his natural charms to keep things breezy. But his shtick fills time more so than providing laughs. Overall, the misfired jokes pile up as high as the explosion tally. Is it funny that Jason and Alex are “on a break” like Rachel and Ross on “Friends,” or that Jason stars in “Maximum Extreme 2,” a poke at both “Mission: Impossible 2” and this very movie?
It depends on your taste, of course, but “Full Throttle” challenged my goodwill more than the original. Yet its core strength remains intact: Perfect casting of a trio of easy-to-like – and easy-on-the-eyes — Angels.
“Charlie’s Angels” (2000): 3.5 stars
“Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle”: 2.5 stars