Gigli (2003)
Gigli "rhymes with really," the
titular protagonist likes to remind us. As in REALLY
GAY.
Seriously, I was shocked. After
months of Internet speculation and tons and tons of
bad press, I just had to see "Gigli." After all, this
was going to be the worst film of the year! I had
to see it and see how truly, deliciously awful it
really was. I was practically salivating with anticipation
thinking of the pearls of humorous wisdom I could
write about the film. And then, surprise, surprise...
I liked it. The film isn't bad at all.
Sure, there are some problems. Affleck
comes across as one of the worst actors of our time.
But then again, his character is supposed to be sort
of a bad actor. He's full of false bravado and society-enforced
machismo, so we know that he's a phony. Who better
to play a phony than a bad actor? J-Lo has some really
horrid lines including the oft-mentioned "Turkey time"
quip but, dammit, I just can't help but like her.
And, still, Louis Venito is just
ugly and unwatchable. His character is supposed to
be unsavory but Venito is so ucky as to make his scenes
nauseating. And Christopher Walken and Al Pacino drop
by to play their typical cinematic personas (that
is: playing hoods) in some extended scenes that just
make you want to kill yourself. Worse yet, the whole
film, with its retarded character played by Justin
Bartha, seems like a bad amalgamation of "Rainman"
meets "Goodfellas." It seems like the kinda thing
Buck Henry might have pitched at the start of "The
Player 2: The Player Plays Another Round"
But under all of these problems
lies the heart of the film, a sweet and surprisingly
complex looks at the sexual politics of a relationship
between a man and a woman both of whom have a few
issues. Affleck's character may be a goombah (however
you spell it) but he ends up winning us over when
the cracks in his cheap veneer begin to show, exposing
us to a gentle, hurt and scarred soul. J-Lo, likewise,
has a tough as nails exterior, but we come to like
her because we see she feels the same way we do about
Affleck's character. As the two edge ever closer to
consummating their relationship, we want to see them
hook up and recognize that within each of them is
the power to make the other a better and more fulfilled
person.
Still, with J-Lo's character proclaiming
herself a lesbian (but, in actuality being admittedly
bisexual), her desire to bed Affleck's Gigli seems
highly unlikely. We might accept this more readily
if a rabid and rather sadly stereotypical lesbian
character didn't show up professing her love for J-
Lo's Ricki. If this wasn't bad enough to make lesbians
in the audience hate the film, then J-Lo's somewhat
uneasy conversion to hetero sex in the film's midsection
surely will. Even with the likeable characters and
the interesting sexual role playing that goes on between
the two, the underlying message here seems to be that:
a) lesbians are fucked-up and b) all they really need
is a good dick inside them and they will convert.
Not being a lesbian myself, I didn't have much trouble
with this film but that doesn't mean that lesbians
wouldn't be right to be up in arms and angry about
"Gigli." It does not do them justice. (If Gigli was
a gay man and a straight female converted him to heterosexuality,
I would hate this film. However, if he were admittedly
bisexual...)
"Gigli" isn't the best film in the
world. The acting is bad. The dialogue is terrible.
The direction is hackneyed. The cameos are annoying
and the stereotypes can sometimes seem insipid, not
to mention far too politically incorrect. But for
those who want to see it, the film has, at its core,
an interesting love story about a man and a woman
who find each other under all the bullshit. And there
is something valuable in that.
Note:
Also with Laine Kazan.
Directed by Martin Brest, who I
will never forgive for the horrid "Scent of a Woman."
At one time the powers-that-be considered
releasing this with the title "Tough Love."
Affleck and J-Lo are, of course,
a couple in real life. They have another movie coming
out together, Kevin Smith's "Jersey Girl," (currently)
due in March of 2004.
In earlier versions of the film,
Gigli died at the end. Test audiences hated this and
the actors were called back for a re-shoot.
At one time Halle Berry was in talks
for the J-Lo role.
Viewed in Pflugerville in August
2003 with my roomie Amanda.
