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By: BRIAN MOYLAN COMMENTS
 
SOMETIMES THE BEST part of going to the movies is checking out previews of what
is coming soon to a theater near you. The problem with trailers, though, is that
sometimes they give away all the good jokes, feature scenes that don’t make
the final cut of the movie or, even worse, are more than a bit misleading.
The sneak peek of Angela Robinson’s “D.E.B.S.”, which opens
nationwide on March 25, certainly falls into the last category. While the trailer
plays up the all-girl spy team angle and employs a few of the film’s gags,
it almost completely ignores the lesbian angle.
“D.E.B.S.” isn’t a “gay film” in the way that,
say, “The Broken Hearts Club” is. But the jokes are funnier, the
action livelier and the ladies even more appealing if you know there’s
a big, fat lesbian romance in the middle of its plot.
As viewers learn from the preview, there’s a secret test in the SAT that
selects women with an aptitude for espionage who are then trained at an elite
spy school. The movie is about one “Charlie’s Angels”-esque
squad made up of four archetypes: wunderkind Amy (Sara Foster), ballsy leader
Max (Meagan Good), prissy Janet (Jill Ritchie) and brusque French girl Dominique
(Devon Aoki).
Their mentor, Mr. P (Michael Clarke Duncan), does not own a Dupont Circle bar
in D.C., but instead has the girls on the case of Lucy Diamond (the distractingly
attractive Jordana Brewster), the world’s most deadly super villain, whom
no agent has ever defeated.
After a sting operation, Amy is hot on Lucy’s trail. But when the two
women meet, a mutual attraction keeps them from fighting and Lucy gets away.
But Lucy can’t get Amy out of her mind and kidnaps her to force her to
go on a date.
Of course, the two fall in love. But can their relationship survive when one
is a cop and the other a robber?
THE ANSWER IS revealed in “D.E.B.S.” death-defying balance between
contradictions. It’s a classic teen movie, but about lesbian spies. It’s
a chick flick with an action boost. Think “Pretty in Bulletproof.”
In the capable hands of lesbian writer/director Robinson, “D.E.B.S.”
combines the best elements of teen romances and spy flicks and comes up with
a refreshingly unique film. This is Robinson’s first full-length feature,
based on a short movie she made of the concept in 2002 that was screened at
film festivals across the country. (Her next full-length feature, scheduled
to be released this year, is “Herbie: Fully Loaded,” starring Lindsay
Lohan.)
All the humor in “D.E.B.S.,” most of which is quite successful,
come in the unexpected clashes between conventions. After a bad blind date (with
a Russian assassin, no less), Lucy says, “Love is harder than crime.”
And that becomes the movie’s motto.
In most action films, the romance is just another well-worn subplot. Here,
the cloak-and-dagger antics are in the background and the central focus is on
the lesbian romance.
Like everything from “Romeo and Juliet” to “Sixteen Candles,”
the couple portrayed involves two people from opposite worlds trying to start
a relationship. And this fuels the dramatic tension.
Amy has to deal with all of the issues of coming out to her teammates as a
lesbian and as someone who is literally sleeping with the enemy.
Don’t let the flaccid trailer for this film fool you. With first-rate
performances, campy humor and a truly original take on genre films, “D.E.B.S.”
is not to be missed.
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