Gigli Reviews

Did anyone ask for a Bennifer movie? Anyway, Larry “Rhymes with Really” Gigli (Ben Affleck) is a wannabe mobster who is assigned to kidnap Brian (Justin Bartha), the federal prosecutor’s mentally handicapped brother. Because Larry is such a wet sandwich gangster, he gets a surprise visit from Ricki (Jennifer Lopez) whom he resents at first, but, of course, they end up in the sack together. Things get ugly when Starkman (Al Pacino) arrives, kills Louis (Lenny Venito), and tells Larry what an embarrassment he is, but Larry and Ricki quit and take Brian to “the Baywatch”. Gigli is one of the most oddly-concocted films I have seen, with an ill-conceived story, bizarre subplots, and performances so off-collar that the actors look confused at what’s going on. Ben Affleck seems more focused on acting like an egocentric douchebag than a lesser mob man and J-Lo, despite playing a badass bodyguard, comes off as just a special needs caretaker with a hot bod. Pacino is even worse, overacting in every sentence and emphasizing every four-letter word. However, Gigli’s saving grace is Justin Bartha as Brian, who is desperate to lose his virginity yet has to take abuse from Larry in almost every scene. A very special shout-out goes to Christopher Walken and his awkwardly hilarious switch from a serious interrogation to a 20-second monologue about pie. Gigli is such an odd egg to sit through and is one of the classic examples of a bad romantic comedy.

(1 Marie Calendar Pie a la Mode out of 5)
(It’s turkey time… Gobble gobble.)

Obviously, I heard so many bad things about this flick that I became eventually quite curious about it and I wanted to make sure if it was really so bad. And the conclusion? Alright, indeed, it is a bad movie but it is definitely not one of the worst movies ever made, at least that's my opinion. It is above all just a huge negative hype which was built up because Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez were together at that time. But, I have to admit it, the whole thing still remains pretty lame... The main issue, a part from the ridiculously lame title, is obviously the story, it goes nowhere and it is not remotely funny. It is also quite dubious to present us with a lesbian character who eventually fall for the hetero macho guy (actually, it is already the second movie where Ben Affleck managed this). Fortunately, both Christopher Walken and Al Pacino showed up to give some great cameo performances but there was nothing else worth spending my time. To conclude, even though I still believe this movie didn't deserve such a negative hype, I have to admit that it more or less deserves its bad reputation and you should probably avoid watching it.