Theyre crime-fighting hotties with killer bodies.
Rating: 6/10
Running Time: 91 minutes
US Certificate: PG-13 UK Certificate: 12A
On DVD
D.E.B.S. is the sort of movie that is guaranteed to polarise public opinion. On the one hand, youll have those who see it as a fun, bubbly, tongue-in-cheek satire on mindless kick-ass chick-flicks of the Charlies Angels ilk. On the other hand, therell be plenty of those who just wont be able to get around the fact that most of the acting is terrible, the story is intrinsically stupid, and the overall look of the film makes it resemble an episode of Power Rangers.
One thing everyone will agree on though is that its certainly original. Writer-director Angela Robinson basing the movie on her 11-minute short of the same name from 2003 brings us the story of a group of leggy teenage gals attending a secret government school for spies. Collectively, theyre called D.E.B.S., which stands for Discipline Energy Beauty Strength so, going by the beauty bit, we can only assume that theres a slightly-unfair no-entry policy for the less-attractive girlies out there.
Having heard that Americas supposedly most ruthless female assassin Lucy Diamond (Jordana Brewster) is meeting with a Russian hit-woman (Jessica Cauffiel) in a nearby restaurant, the D.E.B.S. go along to do a bit of spying. Little do our heroines know, however, that far from arranging their latest dastardly plan, the pair are actually a couple of lesbians out on their first date.
Personally, I liked Robinsons idea of getting into how difficult it must be for a criminal mastermind to go out on a quiet date. Sadly though, it never takes off from there on in, and the bulk of the tale is taken up by a silly story about her attempts to woo D.E.B.-in-turmoil Amy (Sara Foster). With its brightly-lit, mildly-futuristic sets and eye-candy cast (Brewster, in particular, has never looked better), D.E.B.S. is certainly memorable in a visual sense. Its also just about entertaining enough to hold the attention over its 90 minutes. But, save for another look at some of those tease-tastic outfits, its not the sort of movie youll want to revisit time and time again.
It's Got: An absolute belter of a soundtrack, featuring New Order, Erasure and quite possibly one of the best songs of all time Lovecats by The Cure.
It Needs: An ugly girl to turn up and take the whole D.E.B.S. organisation to court for some form of discrimination.
DVD Extras Theres a great array of extra features here for such a low-profile film. You get a choice of audio commentary (from either the stars or the director), a 12-minute Infiltrating D.E.B.S. featurette, a 5-minute Animatic animated storyboard, some deleted scenes, production stills gallery, and a look at a D.E.B.S. comic. DVD Extras Rating: 7/10
Summary
Lipstick lesbianism and awful acting are the order of the day in this semi-enjoyable spy caper.