[A] cheering reminder of what can be done by clever people with a small budget and a lot of enthusiasm.
D.E.B.S. (2005)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:58
Fresh:23
Rotten:35
Average Rating:4.7/10
Consensus: Lacking enough material for a full-length movie, D.E.B.S. is short on both plot and laughs.
Runtime: 1 hr 31 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Synopsis: Writer-director Angela Robinson expands a short film she showed at Sundance into this tongue-in-cheek feature, which is a satire of female spy flicks like CHARLIE'S ANGELS. The plot revolves around... Writer-director Angela Robinson expands a short film she showed at Sundance into this tongue-in-cheek feature, which is a satire of female spy flicks like CHARLIE'S ANGELS. The plot revolves around four sexy coeds handpicked to work at an exclusive spy academy on the basis of their S.A.T. scores and their superior ability to lie, cheat, steal, and kill. The squad consists of feisty team-leader Max (Meagan Good), goodie-goodie Janet (Jill Ritchie), apathetic chain-smoker Dominique (Devon Aoki), and sweet-natured Amy (Sara Foster)--who wonders if being a spy is truly her destiny. Decked out in ultra-mini plaid skirts, the D.E.B.S. (stands for Discipline, Energy, Beauty, and Strength) prepare for their most important mission yet--capturing the deadly criminal mastermind Lucy Diamond (Jordana Brewster). As it turns out, Lucy is little more than a helpless romantic, and when a crush develops between Lucy and Amy, the plot takes yet another twist. Over-the-top and self-referential, D.E.B.S. pokes fun at the CHARLIE'S ANGELS formula in a good-natured way, ultimately succeeding by not taking itself too seriously. Walking a thin line between parodying and emulating the genre, D.E.B.S. depends on the same aesthetic that it spoofs. In fact the only thing that truly distinguishes D.E.B.S. from films like CHARLIE'S ANGELS is that its core romance is a lesbian one. Luckily, this relationship is developed more fully than that of other action films, and is not sensationalized. A mood-appropriate 1980s soundtrack features Erasure, The Cure, and New Order. [More]
Starring: Jordana Brewster, Sara Foster, Devon Aoki, Jill Ritchie
Starring: Jordana Brewster, Sara Foster, Devon Aoki, Jill Ritchie, Meagan Good, Michael Clarke Duncan, Holland Taylor, Jimmi Simpson, Jessica Cauffiel
Director: Angela Robinson
Director: Angela Robinson
Screenwriter: Angela Robinson
Producer: Jasmine Kosovic, Andrea Sperling
Studio: Destination Films
Reviews for D.E.B.S.
The silliest spy spoof centered around a chaste lesbian love story that I’ve ever seen.
Only the world of X-rated movies overlooks such flimsiness of plot, absence of acting talent, cheap special effects, banal dialogue and scantily clad young women.
The most endearing aspect of D.E.B.S., a sweet-spirited spoof, is that the lesbian romance is played for real, with no nudge-nudge wink-wink irony.
A prime example of a dispiriting trend: movies whose primary point of reference is other movies.
Those who are hoodwinked into leaving home for such deliberate mediocrity may get a sense that the movie's biggest joke is at their expense.
Something supremely silly yet slyly subversive: a gay girl-power romance in skimpy exploitation clothing.
Most of the second half is taken up by the surprisingly sticky, amateurishly acted love story about desperate lovers on opposite sides of the law, and there are long stretches without laughs.
Breezy and silly and laugh-out-loud funny, full of throw-away lines and absurd humour.
It's not easy to make an unwatchable movie about too-skinny girls in too-short skirts packing big guns. Somehow, though, D.E.B.S. gets it all wrong.
Cute, campy and as proudly insubstantial as its heroines' micro-miniskirts.
It's smarter than it has to be yet makes virtually no effort to take itself seriously.
The character traits of the D.E.B.S. are only slightly more useful than the color-coded uniforms of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
The movie feels like a live-action Saturday morning cartoon from the 1970s.
A debacle, a debasement of common sense and debatably the worst movie to be released so far this year.
Plays less like a send-up of Charlie's Angels than one of the endless D-list satires that clogged theaters 40 years ago near the end of the 007-inspired spy cycle.
A heat-free pseudo-lesbian spoof of Charlie's Angels by way of Heathers.
Latest News for D.E.B.S.
February 01, 2007:
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June 07, 2006:
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July 13, 2005:
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July 08, 2005:
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