 |
 |
| Johnny Depp gives a peculiar performance as Capt. Jack Sparrow in ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.’The actor’s buffoonery reads somewhere between drunk and effeminate and he wears far too much eye makeup, even for a pirate. (Photo courtesy of Touchstone Pictures) |
|
|
| | |
| |
|
|
| | |
HOME > ENTERTAINMENT > FILM
By: Steve Warren COMMENTS
 
WHATEVER THEIR OTHER merits and demerits “Legally Blonde” and “Charlie’s
Angels” had a certain camp value that’s diminished in their sequels.
This is especially sad in the former case because there’s an openly gay
director, Charles Herman-Warmfeld, at the helm. But he can’t do much with
a witless script.
“Legally Blonde” could have been corny, cutesy and contrived, but
a really clever script that brought out Reese Witherspoon’s best qualities
made it one of the best comedies of recent years. The sequel is everything we
feared the first movie would be, so it’s one of the biggest disappointments
of recent years. It has bend but no snap.
Elle Woods (Witherspoon) is on the verge of a promotion and preparing to marry
Emmett (Luke Wilson) when she’s fired for protesting because one of her
firm’s clients tests cosmetics on animals. Ms. Woods goes to Washington
to lobby for a bill banning animal testing.
As at school, everyone underestimates “Capitol Barbie” and Elle
has to win them over, including some powerful committee members. She bonds with
one lawmaker because they both have gay dogs (which neither ever noticed until
his Rottweiler, which the lawmaker’s wife bought in Dupont Circle, tries
to mount Elle’s Chihuahua). The gay dog thing was pretty funny on “South
Park” five years ago.
Elle has setbacks in store but she’ll triumph in the end. We didn’t
come to watch her lose.
IN A SUMMER when most movies feel like theme park rides, it’s refreshing
to find “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.”
This is the live-action pirate film I wanted “Sinbad” to be: a rip-roaring,
cliché-packed adventure for all but the very young.
Johnny Depp gives a peculiar performance as Capt. Jack Sparrow, a lousy pirate
but a not-so-bad man. Depp’s buffoonery reads somewhere between drunk
and effeminate, and he wears far too much eye makeup, even for a pirate.
In Port Royal Elizabeth (Keira Knightley), the governor’s daughter, is
coming of age. She’s about to be proposed to by Commodore Norrington (Jack
Davenport) but her heart belongs to the blacksmith, Will Turner (Orlando Bloom).
Turner was rescued from a burning vessel eight years earlier wearing a gold
medallion with a pirate symbol on it. Elizabeth secretly kept the medallion
because she has a soft spot for pirates.
The Black Pearl was Commodore Norrington’s ship until mutineers led by
Capt. Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) took it from him. Now it’s rumored to be
cursed and a full moon reveals she’s sailing with a literal skeleton crew.
They can’t be fully dead or alive until they restore a chest of coins
stolen from Cortez, the last of which is in Elizabeth’s possession but
changes hands frequently.
When Barbossa kidnaps Elizabeth, Will, the blacksmith, breaks Capt. Sparrow
(Depp) out of prison and they sail to her rescue, fighting many battles along
the way.
Director Gore Verbinski keeps things moving at a good clip, making the two-hour-plus
movie quite bearable.
Directed by Charles Herman-Wurmfeld
Starring Reese Witherspoon, Sally Field, Regina King
Queer Quotient: About as much gay content (most of it involving animals, not
people) as the original, and an openly gay director. No lesbian character this
time but there’s a gay secretary (Sam Pancake) and a drag queen in addition
to the gay dogs.
Directed by Gore Verbinski
Starring Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom
Queer Quotient: Depp is oddly effeminate and overly made up in the leading role
but his buddy-bonding with Bloom doesn’t seem nearly as gay as that of
Brad Pitt and Joseph Fiennes in ‘Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas.’
| 
