Gigli

Not to be confused with Gigi (1958 film).
For other uses, see Gigli (disambiguation).
Gigli

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Martin Brest
Produced by
Written by Martin Brest
Starring
Music by John Powell
Cinematography Robert Elswit
Edited by
Production
company
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release dates
  • August 1, 2003 (2003-08-01)
Running time
 121 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $75.6 million[2]
Box office $7.3 million[3]

Gigli is a 2003 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Martin Brest and starring Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, Justin Bartha, Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, and Lainie Kazan.

Popular media gave attention and interest to the film during production, primarily because Affleck and Lopez, the film's stars, were romantically involved at the time.

After release, critical reaction was universally negative, and in the years since its release Gigli has been considered one of the worst films of all time. The film was also one of the more expensive box office bombs in history, grossing $7.2 million against a $75.6 million budget. As of 2016, it is the last film Brest has directed, making it his longest hiatus between projects.

Plot

Larry Gigli (Ben Affleck) is a low-ranking Los Angeles mobster who isn't nearly as tough as he likes to act. He is commanded to kidnap the mentally challenged younger brother of a powerful federal prosecutor to save New York-based mob boss Starkman (Al Pacino) from prison. Gigli successfully convinces the young man, Brian (Justin Bartha), to go off with him by promising to take him "to the Baywatch", which seems to be Brian's singular obsession, and turns out to just be the beach. The man who ordered the kidnapping, Louis (Lenny Venito), does not trust Gigli to get the job done right, so he hires a woman calling herself Ricki (Jennifer Lopez) to take charge.

Gigli is attracted to Ricki, but he resents the fact that Louis does not have faith in him and that he has to take orders from a woman. He is also frustrated by Brian's insistence on going to "the Baywatch" and by Ricki's being a lesbian. A suspicious detective (Christopher Walken) comes to the apartment to question Gigli if he is aware of Brian's disappearance. Gigli, who is further annoyed when his mother (Lainie Kazan) takes an immediate liking to Ricki, both of them needling him.

The events take a darker turn when Gigli and Ricki receive orders to cut off Brian's thumb, something neither wants to do. Worse, Ricki's ex-girlfriend, Robin (Missy Crider), shows up at Gigli's apartment, accusing her of changing sexual orientation. She slits her wrists and has to be rushed to the hospital. While at the hospital, Gigli goes to the morgue and cuts off a corpse's thumb, which he sends to the prosecutor as Brian's thumb. Gigli and Ricki go back to Gigli's apartment where he confesses his love, and the two sleep together.

They are summoned to meet with the mob's boss. Starkman reveals that he didn't approve of the plan to kidnap a federal prosecutor's brother or cut off the thumb and rages at them because the thumb they sent didn't match Brian's fingerprint, nullifying any potential for coercing the prosecutor; he then kills Louis, presumably for the kidnapping and stirring a hornet's nest in law enforcement. Starkman is about to kill Ricki and Gigli as well, but Ricki talks him out of it by pointing out that only they know where Brian is, and only they can silence him and prevent him from fingering Starkman in the kidnapping. They leave Starkman's, decide to leave the mob, and discuss taking Brian back to where they found him. On the way, they discover Baywatch (or a similarly themed show or film) shooting an episode on the beach. Brian begs to be let off there and finally they consent.

Gigli convinces Ricki to take his car, but at the last minute, Ricki returns and picks up Gigli, and they leave town together.

All of the characters are transformed by the episode. Louis's mob is disrupted, Gigli has dropped his hyper-masculine facade, Ricki has a heterosexual fling with Gigli, and Brian gradually emerges from his shell, noticing other people and conversing.

Cast

Production

The film was shot on location throughout Long Beach and Los Angeles, California.

Release

Critical reception

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a rating of 6%, based on 183 reviews, with an average rating of 2.7/10. The critical consensus states: "Bizarre and clumsily plotted, Gigli is a mess. As for its stars, Affleck and Lopez lack chemistry."[4] On Metacritic the film has a score of 18 out of 100, based on 37 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike".[5]

On Ebert and Roeper, critics Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper both gave the film thumbs down, although Ebert showed some sympathy towards the film, stating it had "clever dialogue", but was "...too disorganized for me to recommend it". Roeper called the film "a disaster" and "one of the worst movies I've ever seen". He then included Gigli on his 100 worst films of the decade at #7.[6]

Ebert and James Berardinelli were two of the very few major critics to not write it off completely.[7] Ebert gave the film two and a half stars out of four, saying, "They didn't quite get to where they wanted to be, but the film is worth seeing for some very good scenes." Berardinelli gave it two stars, saying, "This isn't a good film, but, when set alongside the likes of Dumb and Dumberer and Legally Blonde 2, Jen & Ben offer less pain."[8]

Entertainment Weekly's Owen Gleiberman gave the film a "C+", stating "A watchable bad movie, but it's far from your typical cookie-cutter blockbuster. There are no shoot-outs or car chases, and there isn't much romantic suspense, either."[9]

One of the few positive reviews came from Amy Dawes of Variety, who wrote that the story was ludicrous and that the film would tank, but that on balance she found it a fun film with several good performances.[10]

Box office

Gigli grossed $3,753,518 in its opening weekend from 2,215 theaters averaging $1,694 per theater and ranking #8 at the box office. The film set a record to date for the biggest second-weekend drop in box office gross of any film in wide release since that statistic was kept; it dropped by 81.9% in its second weekend compared to its first, grossing $678,640.[11] By its third weekend in release, only 73 US theaters were showing it, a 97% drop from its first weekend. The film ultimately earned $6,087,542 domestically and $1,178,667 internationally for a total of $7,266,209 on a $75.6 million production budget.[2]

The film was withdrawn from US theaters after only three weeks (one of the shortest circulation times for a big-budget film), earning a total of only $6 million domestically and $1 million abroad. In the United Kingdom, the film was dropped by virtually every cinema after critics panned it.

In 2014, The Los Angeles Times listed the film as one of the most expensive box office flops of all time.[12]

Awards and nominations

The film was nominated for nine and received six Razzies in the 2003 Golden Raspberry Awards – Worst Picture, Worst Actor, Worst Actress, Worst Director, Worst Screenplay and Worst Screen Couple. A year later, the film won a seventh Razzie for "Worst Comedy of Our First 25 Years". The film was also nominated for eleven and received five Stinkers Bad Movie Awards in 2003; Worst Actor and Worst Fake Accent - Male, Worst Actress and Worst Fake Accent - Female and Worst On-Screen Couple.[13]

Legacy

Its title was named by the Global Language Monitor as one of the top words from Hollywood having an impact on the English language in 2003.[14] Late night talk show hosts in particular lampooned the film in their monologues; Conan O'Brien said "The Mets are doing so badly that they will be renamed 'The New York Gigli.'"

Yahoo! Movies rates Gigli number one on their Bottom Rated Movies of All Time,[15] with a critics' rating of D−.[16] The Onion, a satirical newspaper, ran an article about the film, titled "Gigli focus groups demand new ending in which Affleck and Lopez die."[17]

In May 2015, The Hollywood Reporter named Gigli #25 on its list of "50 Worst Movie Titles of All Time".[18]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "GIGLI (15)". British Board of Film Classification. August 13, 2003. Retrieved April 7, 2013.
  2. 1 2 Lang, Brent (2 September 2011). "'Gigli's' Real Price Tag — Or, How Studios Lie About Budgets". TheWrap.com. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  3. ↑ Gigli at Box Office Mojo
  4. ↑ "Gigli". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved 2008-01-19.
  5. ↑ "Gigli reviews". Metacritic. CBS.
  6. ↑ "Richard Roeper's Worst Movies of the Decade list". Listal. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  7. ↑ Ebert, Roger (2003-08-01). "Movie Reviews: Gigli". Chicago Sun-Times.
  8. ↑ Barardinelli, James. "Gigli Movie Review". ReelViews.net.
  9. ↑ Gleiberman, Owen (2003-07-30). "Gigli". Entertainment Weekly.
  10. ↑ Dawes, Amy (2003-08-02). "Gigli Review". Variety.
  11. ↑ Biggest Second Weekend Drops at the Box Office at Box Office Mojo
  12. ↑ Eller, Claudia (15 January 2014). "The costliest box office flops of all time". Los Angeles Times.
  13. ↑ "2003 26th Hastings Bad Cinema Society Stinker Awards". Stinkers Bad Movie Awards. Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 17, 2006. Retrieved May 1, 2013.
  14. ↑ "Hollywords – The Global Language Monitor".
  15. ↑ Top Movies at Yahoo! Movies
  16. ↑ Gigli (2003) - Movie Info at Yahoo! Movies
  17. ↑ "Gigli Focus Groups Demand New Ending In Which Both Affleck And Lopez Die". The Onion. 2003-07-30.
  18. ↑ "50 of the Worst Movie Titles of All Time".
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