Charlie's Angels

Starring as over-the-top sexbomb super-detectives, Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu embrace preposterousness with giddy aplomb in this comedically sexy, digitally enhanced, candy-colored, B-movie mock-exploitation romp. A vast, sassy, action-packed improvement on that '70s show on TV, which could never reconcile its insincere femme empowerment message with its transparent jiggle factor draw, this Charlie's Angels adds to the mix awesome fight sequences amped up with The Matrix-style F/X and a Xena-like self-aware sense of humor that gives flight to the formulaic proceedings. These angels aren't supposed to be credible as brilliant, girl-powered kung-fu experts; these angels just want to have fun and take us along for the ride. The plot? Well, if you insist: They're hired to rescue a kidnapped computer kingpin (Sam Rockwell), whose stolen security software could threaten privacy and corporate security worldwide. Co-staring Bill Murray (as Bosley), Tim Curry, Crispin Glover, Kelly Lynch, Luke Wilson, Tom Green and Matt LeBlanc, this surprisingly entertaining bit of camp is recommended. (R. Blackwelder)[Blu-ray Review— Aug. 3, 2010—Sony, 98 min., PG-13, $19.95—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 2000's Charlie's Angels sports an excellent transfer and a 5.1 DTS-HD soundtrack. Blu-ray extras include audio commentary with director McG and cinematographer Russell Carpenter, the production featurettes “The Master and the Angels” with martial arts choreographer Cheung-Yan Yuen (8 min.), “Angelic Effects” on special effects (7 min.), “Getting G'd Up” on McG (7 min.), “Welcome to Angel World” on set design (5 min.), and “Angelic Attire” on costume design (4 min.), deleted scenes (5 min.), outtakes and bloopers (3 min.), a “Wired Angels” segment on setting up the fight scene (3 min.), the music videos “Independent Woman, Part 1” by Destiny's Child and “Charlie's Angels 2000” by Apollo 440, a “movieIQ” track, the BD-Live function, and trailers. Bottom line: a fine Blu-ray debut for an entertaining camp feature film reboot of the popular series.]