Gigli (2003)

DESPITE THE PUBLICATION DATE, THIS REVIEW WAS WRITTEN FOUR YEARS AGO.Like an attempt at a late-night sketch gone terribly, terribly wrong, Gigli is well deserving of the Worst Picture award as well as the box office flop that it has become notorious for. Starring the then-couple of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez in what is possibly the biggest lack of on-screen chemistry in cinematic history, Affleck plays your run-of-the-mill wannabe-tough-guy thug assigned to kidnap the mentally challenged younger brother of a federal prosecutor to save a big-time mob boss and Lopez as a hard-ass lesbian collaborator sent to see that Affleck does his job right. What transpires is two hours of awkwardness and pain-mostly that of whoever's watching it.Featuring Justin Bartha (of The Hangover) in an early role as their Baywatch-obsessed hostage, the scenes involving his character puts pressure on the poor, unsuspecting audience to feel sympathy for him. The alleged "brain damage" as portrayed here is not only offensive but also so poorly acted that one would think that there's a plot twist where the whole illness is a sham. It's not.More of the agony that comes from sitting through this movie is the blatant sexism and homophobia coming out of Affleck's inability to shut up for more than thirty seconds. There're vibes of Kevin Smith's Chasing Amy; difference is that Chasing Amy was made for a lot less and was a lot better.Watching this in 2014 in a world where Affleck's career has skyrocketed to box office bonanza (slightly for the better) and Lopez was probably just a figment of everyone's imagination gone wrong, the only real redeeming qualities in this movie are the somewhat memorable yet unfortunately diminutive appearances by Al Pacino and Christopher Walken as, respectively, a mob boss and a detective.As for the ending, it's that scene that just keeps going on and on until either the screen finally cuts to black and your head explodes. Whichever comes first. 1.5/5.

I never thought that this movie was bad, but it could've had some modification. First off, Ben and Jen seem to lack chemistry as well as some of the other characters - as most of the time, they yell at each other in order to influence their figure somehow. Ben also seems to make a couple dick moves in the movie, like snapping a kid's laptop in half with his knee over by the fact, that the teenagers were playing their music too loud and he got impatient while Jen's character managed to handle the situation more appropriately. Second off, there could've been some scenes of dialogue that could have been cut out to not the movie as pathetic as it was back then. Third off, the ending seems to drag on for too long - being as the movie's run-time is two hours - and about ten minutes could've been saved from the movie in order to speed up the pacing.My best exactitude of cuts would be: 1,273 seconds or about 21 minutes. That way, the movie could've flowed more easily, the characters would've had some life into themselves, it wouldn't be so lambasted as it was by critics and it would've been an adequate Bennifer-flick. So if you would, take my advice. Or it would be the best to see the original version as opposed to this rom-com attempt.

At the time this was released Bennifer (as they were called) were all over the press non-stop and I think that annoyed people and made some give it a 1 just because it turned into a fad doing so, a lot without seeing it before (similar to THE INTERVIEW where people gave it a 10 because they claimed threats from North Korea if releasing it)This was before Ben Affleck was a respected actor and filmmaker in Hollywood, he was sort of the laughing stock around those days (unfairly IMO but such it was)And I think a lot of people went into the movie just looking for flaws, and yes this movie has flaws but if you go into a movie looking for flaws how could you possibly enjoy the rest of it?And I strongly think the positives outweighs the negativesAnd maybe they were expecting a action-comedy? I know that the Swedish DVD I own has it listed as a action-comedy with J Lo and Ben both carrying guns on the coverThis is NOT a action-movie, it's a feel-good drama-comedy really, and a darn good one too if you ask mePositives:-Entertaining performances from J Lo and Ben -Funny dialog for the morepart -Nice well-played dramatic moments as well -Awfully underrated performance from Justin Bartha -Killer soundtrack -Good coming of age story -Jennifer Lopez is more stunning than everNegatives:-Christopher Walkens super-bizarre 2 scene performance where he pronounces words very oddly -The sex talk which there is a lot of can at times admittedly be a little cringe-worthy -Affleck and especially Lopez are a little too nice to be truly believable as tough criminalsBut yeah that's about it overall a very enjoyable movie and laugh at me if you want but I usually cry a teardrop or 2 in the end of the movie

I like Ben Affleck. He's a talented person and I'm sure he's a nice guy, but clearly he wasn't thinking straight when he decided to sign on to this mess. Not even him, Christopher Walken, or Al Pacino could save this movie from failing.At one point, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez as a couple was a big thing for tabloids & the media but here, they have zero chemistry in this movie, which isn't good for a romantic comedy. It's barely acted and it feels as if there wasn't even a script during production. The film revolves around Affleck as a gangster who has to kidnap a mentally challenged man (played by Justin Bartha), then J-Lo helps him out and the catch is that she's a lesbian. Imagine Kevin Smith's decent movie "Chasing Amy" minus the enjoyment, while adding a crime plot and pretentiousness and you have "Gigli".Apparently, this flop of a movie costs around $75.5 million dollars. Where did all the money go? How can anyone green-light this? I went into the movie with an open mind and five minutes into it, I knew it was only going to get worse and worse. I take full responsibility for seeing it out of my own curiosity, so you don't have to sit through this painful 2 hour garbage. If you like Ben Affleck, go watch "Good Will Hunting" instead of "Gigli" and you'll thank me later!