Rating: Summary: Plot?What Plot? Review: "As fun as it is cool!" said MTV News, at least according to the cover blurb here, which immediately begs the question as to whether they were actually talking about this film, and whether they were actually sober if they had watched this film. To save you a lot of time, let me assure you that I may have found a film that will knock Plan 9 From Outer Space off the perch as the worst film of all time. Okay, perhaps that is exaggerating just a little, but there is certainly not much here to commend this putrid effort as a film at all. Perhaps I am a traditionalist, but I believe films need to have certain elements to them in order to be successful: a good story is a great place to start, and that is precisely where this effort starts to seriously go downhill! There is no really discernible story here, and everything else just gets worse from there. Apparently based upon the late 1960s and early 1970s television series, it certainly exhibits no improvement over that series and in general demonstrates how much worse the series could well have been.
If you need to really have a plot here, then I suppose it is loosely the tale of three troubled youths who face the prospect of jail time for various little crimes until given the chance by Captain Greer (Dennis Farina) to work undercover, doing tasks the normal police officer cannot do. What follows is a bunch of scenes featuring Julie Barnes (Claire Danes), Pete Cochrane (Giovanni Ribisi) and Lincoln Hayes (Omar Epps) doing their undercover stuff, trying to track down the bad guys with the drugs. Along the way, a few people die and amongst them are the audience who have to watch the film.
Plot? Well, there really is nothing discernible here that would qualify as a plot. The whole film really is a bunch of disjointed little pieces that have been extracted from any number of sources you care to name that have been linked together in a such a way that is designed to provide the utmost confusion to the viewer. Characters? Yes, well, what characters? There is so little character development here that they were probably all premature births for all we know from the film. Dialogue? Oh lordy, this plumbs new depths of inanity that have never been seen before. The absolute depth? Pete griping "why does she always get to be the prostitute?". Somebody please pass me the bucket, I need to throw up! Acting? Pass. Production values? Pass. Cinematography? Pass. There is simply nothing here that is remotely worthwhile seeing and it ends up being an excruciatingly long 90 minutes of viewing.
The only thing that saves this film at all is the presence of Claire Danes, and had they have simply had ninety minutes of her on screen, and dumped the appalling Giovanni Ribisi, things would have been significantly better in my view. However, if you are not a Claire Danes fan, then this is probably to be avoided at all costs.
Rating: Summary: Tired Review: "The Mod Squad" is a tired rehash of conventional action films, as though the producers had placed them all into a blender and pressed them out into a sub-cartoon, teenybopper formula. In general, I thought that it was a misfire, on account of its dull pace and dreary subject matter, not to mention the fact that it was disastrously aimed at an audience that wouldn't have probably been born in time to appreciate the 70s TV series!
Rating: Summary: Loud, Bright, High Action! And Borrrrring Review: Amazing how so much action, noise, pulsing rock music and lively young actors can add up to such a dull movie. I rated it one star because Amazon won't allow Zero stars. This one is unwatchable, literally. Not even laughable so you can't sit there and mock it. It is just boring and dull. Rent anything else at all - you're sure to like it better.
Rating: Summary: Claire Danes Is A Beautiful Young Woman Review: And if it weren't for this fact, I would have turned this movie off 30 minutes into it. The cinematographer seems to have used Claire's looks to greatest advantage in the movie, as you see lots of close-up shots of her, brooding.Giovanni Ribisi and Omar Epps spend most of the movie brooding, as well, and posing in scenes intended to make them look "cool." Other than that, the plot is insipid, the overall look of this movie is quite grey, and the movie itself seems to be a disconnected series of scenes, moving from one to the next. In fact, the movie is quite hard to follow because the scenes are mostly disconnected from each other. Moreover, the overall feel of the movie is grim: everyone has major problems or dies (or both) and almost nothing light or entertaining ever happens. Even the few scenes that attempt to inject some levity into the movie are trite (for example, Giovanni Ribisi drives Epps' convertible up to a car wash, and it accidentally gets caught in the wash track, leading to a good soaping of the interior) and ultimately fall flat. If you want to get this movie to look at Claire Danes' captivating face, or perhaps you have a crush on Epps or Ribisi, then by all means, get the movie. You won't be disappointed. But if you are looking for a vehicle with a plot, some substance, or something enjoyable to watch, get something else.
Rating: Summary: All In All Worth The Rent...Buying though? u decide... Review: Everyone complains that this movie is unoriginal, it's not supposed to be original, it's a remake! It is a good movie though especially if you like the acting talent they got for it, The actors do indeed make this film worth while! If you're not looking for a ground-breaking innovative movie and like the good old police corruption, shoot'em up, conspiracy movies then this is it. All in all it is worth renting, decide on buying it after that.
Rating: Summary: Good one Review: Excellent film which gives three young stars a chance to shine. Claire Danes is the pick, but the others are great too. The story is a great realistic one and the film does not make the mistake that so many do by becoming to full of effects. This is an actors film, so if you want purile stories with a backdrop of effects, go watch TITANIC, if you have a brain, watch this!
Rating: Summary: Negative Stars Apply Review: First of all, Peggy Lipton's Julie would have whipped Claire Danes' Julie two times over and thrice on Sunday. How such a cool TV show could go bad as a movie boggles the mind. Ribisi's a great actor, but he's totally miscast at Pete. Same goes for Omar - not the Linc I had in mind AT ALL!! Seriously, those of us who actually paid money to see this dribble weren't going in for Masterpiece Theatre. What we got was the thrill of telling everyone we know that we paid to see one of the worst films of all time. Yippee.
Rating: Summary: Negative Stars Apply Review: First of all, Peggy Lipton's Julie would have whipped Claire Danes' Julie two times over and thrice on Sunday. How such a cool TV show could go bad as a movie boggles the mind. Ribisi's a great actor, but he's totally miscast at Pete. Same goes for Omar - not the Linc I had in mind AT ALL!! Seriously, those of us who actually paid money to see this dribble weren't going in for Masterpiece Theatre. What we got was the thrill of telling everyone we know that we paid to see one of the worst films of all time. Yippee.
Rating: Summary: Embarrasing. Review: For those who don't know, the premise of the TV show was that these three troubled kids had some attitude but were actually decent, sympathetic characters. And they had as their "father figure", Captain Greer. Just copy that formula, with Clarie Danes--who IS cute--and bingo, instant hit. But no. First we kill off the guy who's supposed to watch over them. Next, we make them unsympathetic slackers. Finally, add a dash of silly, dated dialog like "Solid, man". (Which sounded ridiculous, even in the 60s, trust me). I don't know who Giovanni is but he should get some sleep and try breathing through his nose so he can close his mouth occasionally. Even when he isn't talking his mouth is open. Didn't they give any thought to the lack of chemistry between these actors--and how unappealing they are in these roles? I'd send them back to prison.
Rating: Summary: Embarrasing. Review: For those who don't know, the premise of the TV show was that these three troubled kids had some attitude but were actually decent, sympathetic characters. And they had as their "father figure", Captain Greer. Just copy that formula, with Clarie Danes--who IS cute--and bingo, instant hit. But no. First we kill off the guy who's supposed to watch over them. Next, we make them unsympathetic slackers. Finally, add a dash of silly, dated dialog like "Solid, man". (Which sounded ridiculous, even in the 60s, trust me). I don't know who Giovanni is but he should get some sleep and try breathing through his nose so he can close his mouth occasionally. Even when he isn't talking his mouth is open. Didn't they give any thought to the lack of chemistry between these actors--and how unappealing they are in these roles? I'd send them back to prison.
|