I vaguely heard about this movie and picked it up on a whim. I'm sharing it here since there wasn't anything already here.
There is a secret test, hidden within the SAT. This test does not measure a student's aptitude at reading, writing, and arithmetic. Instead, it measures a student's innate ability to lie, cheat, fight, and kill. Those who score well are recruited into a secret paramilitary academy. Some call them seductresses. Some call them spies. Fools call them innocent. They call themselves D.E.B.S.
Good morning D.E.B.S. (Or; Who's in this thing, anyway?)
Sara Foster, as Amy
Jordana Brewster, as Lucy Diamond
Meagan Good, as Max
Devon Aoki, as Dominique
Jill Ritche, as Janet
Holland Taylor, as Mrs. Peatree
Michael Clarke Duncan, as Mr. Phipps
Jessica Cauffiel, as Ninotchka
Jimmi Simpson, as Scud
No time for pleasantries. (Or; What's this flick going on about?)
Well, without giving too much away, this movie follows four girls who are a part of D.E.B.S. Recently, criminal mastermind Lucy Diamond has resurfaced, and everyone is after her. No one, by the way, has ever fought Lucy Diamond and lived. The four girls, Amy, Max, Dominique, and Janet, are sent out on a stakeout to see what Lucy is up to (Turns out, she's on a date). Of course, things go wrong. In the frenzy that follows, Amy ends up running into Lucy Diamond and (Gasp!) surviving the encounter. Later, Lucy breaks into the D.E.B.S. compound and "kidnaps" Amy.
The rest of the movie is Lucy seducing Amy, the D.E.B.S. rescuing Amy, and Amy deciding what she really needs to do. Obviously this is fleshed out a little more fully in the film.
I could get kicked out of the D.E.B.S. for this! (Or; will I Like this movie?)
This I can answer with a probably. When I first heard about it I was told, "It's basically about four hot good girls chasing down one hot evil girl, with lesbians!" If that sounds appealing, you're on the right track. While ostensibly a spy movie, which would usually imply action movie, that's not really here. It's much more of a Kevin Smith-ish, dialogue based movie. That dialogue is generally well delivered, but there are a couple of times when the acting falls slightly flat. If this wasn't so dialogue heavy, you probably wouldn't even notice.
Gun choreography is acually decent, but fight choreography is terrible. Happily, both of them come off more silly than bad, which just makes it fit the feel of the movie.
Roger Ebert, in his review, basically says that this film would be entirely forgettable if it weren't for the lesbian twist. That's probably true, but one important fact is that there is a lesbian twist. If you watch the special features at all, you'll find that the writer/director, Angela Robinson really wanted this to be taken as serious commentary about the lesbian condition. I think if you go into it with that attitude you'll find it dull as well. Yes, the other characters are somewhat generic, but that's because the movie isn't really about them. It's a framework to tell the story about the two lesbian girls, which works well and is actually fairly believable.
Don't go into this expecting social commentary. Go in expecting fun and silliness.
The little synopsis above is short, so if you're worried about that, it's for two reasons:
- The film is a little short on plot. It's not bad, it just isn't complex.
- The good in this movie comes from dialogue, primarily. I don't want to write 20 pages full of quotes from the film to get my point across. That said, here's a couple gems:
Mrs. Peatree: We conduct a nationwide manhunt for you and you're boning the suspect? What were you thinking? Let's devote federal funds and thousands of man hours so I can have my collegiate lesbian fling in style!
Amy: I. . . was doing research.
Mrs. Peatree: I'll bet.
Janet: Everyone's calling you a hero, when really, you're a slut.
Amy: Shut up!
Janet: A gay slut.
Amy: I'm not gay!
Overall, if I had to give this movie a score out of 10, I'd say it's an 8.0. A little rough in spots, but with fun factor that totally makes up for it.
Just, I wanted. . . more. (Or; How can I find this thing?)
While this movie received almost no theatrical release at all, it seems to be available on DVD pretty much everywhere. I haven't been into a video or department store in two months that didn't have it. If I've written this well and you feel like checking out now, just run to your nearest video rental place and pick it up. If you use online rental I'm sure you already knew when I started that you could find it if you wanted to.