Reviews

This movie really suffered from the over exposure of "Beniffer". Never in the history of motion pictures has a film been dead in the water before it ever made it to the big screen. Critiques were waiting to trash this film. Had it turned out to be the second coming of "Gone With the Wind," they still would have trashed it. Fans, feeding off the negativity, trounced it as well. It never had a chance. Now that some time has passed and it can be looked at without the animosity and preconceived hatred of Ben and Jen, I think Gigli stands up pretty well. Let me say, at the time, I was not particularly a fan of Ben Affleck, nor was I then or currently a fan of J-Lo's singing or acting. I just thought the movie had a nice story, some funny dialog, and actually deserved better than it got from fans. For those who do not know, Affleck is Gigli, a wannabe mob stooge who is given the task of kidnapping Brian, the retarded brother of a government witness. Enter, Ricki, a lesbian assassin who is hired to ride herd on Gigli so he does not screw up. Gigli starts to fall for Ricki and she, despite her orientation, feels something special for him as well. The byplay between Affleck and Lopez is funny and its obvious they have chemistry (even if they eventually broke up). J-Lo's yoga routine alone is reason to own this movie. If there is a better explanation (and visual) of the difference between the male and female genitalia than the one J-Lo espouses while stretching in spandex, I have not seen or heard it. Justin Bartha (later to gain fame as Riley in the "National Treasure" movies) gives a pretty impressive performance as the mentally-challenged Brian. My biggest issue with this movie is the inclusion of Al Pacino as a gangster (talk about stretching yourself as an actor) At some point in his career, someone told Pacino that acting entails slowly raising his voice until he is railing at the top of his lungs. That's all he does in his movies. He just escalates his tone. That's not acting. That's a recipe for an ulcer. This movie is not going to change your life, but its also not going to end it. See it without the baggage of petty critics and People Magazine-influenced movie goers.

I remember watching this show after school in Hollywood, Florida back in the early 1970s. Along with Kimba (which I recently saw on DVD at Walmart) and Speed Racer, Prince Planet was one of my favorites. I remember making a medallion like his with a big "P" on it. It was two-sided with a full power "P" on one side and a lowered powered "P" on the other. I used a marker to color in the power levels. I would run around pretending to fight villains and getting weaker as my power level dropped. The show was cute, innocent, but had a great message about faith in others, acceptance, and friendship. These things are severely lacking in today's cartoons.