Angela Robinson (screenwriter and director) has put together a very entertaining film. "D.E.B.S." is clever and original. Unfortunately being clever and original in Hollywood means getting lousy distribution. So even though she has made her $4MM production look better technically than mega-expensive stuff like "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", "Taxi", and "Charlie's Angels", you won't see it unless you buy or rent the DVD.
"D.E.B.S." is not only technically better that its genre mates, it is a significantly superior story (i.e. not brain-dead and moronic) and actually incorporates moments of humor and charm.
But for a modest budget original film to get good distribution it must totally take off in the markets of its limited release. That "D.E.B.S." did not do so is attributable to Robinson's inexplicable casting decisions. Of the film's five actress she hits home runs with three: Meagan Good, Devon Aoki, and Jill Ritchie. Ritchie is especially good and pretty much steals all the scenes in which she appears.
But Robinson strikes out with her two other choices; Sara Foster and Jordana Brewster. While she manages to pretty much hide their acting deficiencies when the other characters are present to take up the slack, the two have a fair number of scenes together that are painful to watch. These scenes are simply awful and you find yourself wishing that Brewster's HUGE eyebrows will braid themselves into nooses and end our misery. It seems unlikely that Foster and Brewster could be so lacking in talent and still get work in the industry, so I will attribute at least part of the problem to the difficulty of playing these characters. At least their performances make the poor distribution issue less tragic.
"D.E.B.S." is not only technically better that its genre mates, it is a significantly superior story (i.e. not brain-dead and moronic) and actually incorporates moments of humor and charm.
But for a modest budget original film to get good distribution it must totally take off in the markets of its limited release. That "D.E.B.S." did not do so is attributable to Robinson's inexplicable casting decisions. Of the film's five actress she hits home runs with three: Meagan Good, Devon Aoki, and Jill Ritchie. Ritchie is especially good and pretty much steals all the scenes in which she appears.
But Robinson strikes out with her two other choices; Sara Foster and Jordana Brewster. While she manages to pretty much hide their acting deficiencies when the other characters are present to take up the slack, the two have a fair number of scenes together that are painful to watch. These scenes are simply awful and you find yourself wishing that Brewster's HUGE eyebrows will braid themselves into nooses and end our misery. It seems unlikely that Foster and Brewster could be so lacking in talent and still get work in the industry, so I will attribute at least part of the problem to the difficulty of playing these characters. At least their performances make the poor distribution issue less tragic.