| Written by Scorpio,
on 24-06-2000 08:00
|
Published in : Reviews, Movies |
by Scorpio
I've been catching all kinds of heat from colleagues and friends for checkin this one out. How could you sit through this one? Along with a few sympathy cards sent my way were the common responses that I was getting after admitting to seeing and halfway liking this one. Even people that went and saw this one gave me shit for sitting through it. They either had problems with the script , i.e. it wasn't sophisticated enough or mature enough. In other words, it wasn't really offering up worldly advice or making any kind of political statement that seems to be the fad nowadays. I don't know what the big debate about it is, because, I don't know about you, but I knew what I was getting myself into and pretty much enjoyed every other minute of it as bad as that may sound.
 Most of the actual story of producer Jerry Bruckheimer's Coyote Ugly hardly deviates from every fifth or sixth film that comes out nowadays. If you envision this one as another product of mindless schlock that he has carved a niche in, then your not far off. I mean, there's no great mystery here. Small-town Jersey girl, goes across the river to the Big Apple to try and become a songwriting sensation. That girl, Violet Sanford is played by Piper Perabo. Perabo played a supporting role as FBI agent Karen Sympathy in summer bust Rocky and Bullwinkle. I gotta admit, I got a lot of utility watching this girl. With the deadly combination of curves and an especially full set of lips, she will go on to bigger and better things. If all else fails, I'm sure she can secure a spot on Dawson's Creek or some other low-rent high school drama. Let's face it though, I don't think any of us went to see this movie in search of a feel good piece. Just maybe a piece of something else. I, personally went on recommendation from my latest copy of Maxim. Based on this month's cover devoted to the Coyote gals, I didn't think it would steer my wrong.
Anyway, as luck would have it she ends up getting hooked up with Maria Bello, bar owner of Coyote Ugly, and secures a job as a bartender in the hole-in-the-wall bar where the girls pretty much run the joint. These tequila pouring bar belles like to talk shit to the guys and dance on top of the bar to INXS's "I Need You Tonight" and the Charlie Daniels Band's "Devil Went Down to Georgia". Done up top to bottom in leather doesn't really hurt either. These scenes provided much of the redemption for the lame-ass, run of the mill script. Along with those two there's bitchy-but-sexy Bridget Moyanhan, and Izabella Miko, at 19, the closest thing to a Lolita that this movie has. In case you're wondering if Tyra Bank's has developed any acting chops from previous gems like Singleton's Higher Learning. Keep your seat, she hasn't. As of this writing, she still is just another pretty face. Playing the role of Zoe, a former Coyote going off to law school, she maybe clocks five minutes of screen time at most and ended up snagging the cover of my Maxim from Perabo which was a crying shame.
There are a few other bit characters that probably had a significant role or two. For instance, Adam Garcia, who played Kevin O'Donnell, Violet's burger flipping boyfriend, hell bent on her breaking through her bought with stage fright and reaching the big time as a performer and songwriter, probably played a significant role. However, I wasn't paying that much attention, I was too busy watching the booty shaking in the leather pants. Another supporter, John Goodman decided that he would take a break from playing another Coen brother character or ass-kissing sidekick cop (i.e. Harold Becker's Sea of Love with Pacino and more recently in 1998's Fallen where he puckered up to Denzel's derrier). The former co-heavyweight with Rosanne plays Piper Perabo's father, a toll-booth collector who is downright protective of his daughter and heavily objects at first to her heading to the Big Apple to try her hand at making it big.
I think, and I'm definitely not alone on this one, that Bruckheimer should've kicked it up a notch into the R rating hemisphere. It had the right amount of flare, just not enough flesh. People that went expecting something a little more, probably felt cheated. Perhaps a little misled. That is, perhaps, the real travesty here. In case you feel a little slighted from this review with regards to content, maybe you wanted to know more of what actually went on. Maybe this should tell you something.
Content: 2.5/4 stars (an R rating might've swayed me to give it a higher rating; there was potential for so much more)
Related Items:
|
