ANGEL EYES A film review by David N. Butterworth Copyright 2001 David N. Butterworth
** (out of ****)
Jennifer Lopez is riding a wave of popularity right now so it should come as no surprise to anyone to see the actress turned Queen of Q102 with another movie in theaters (following close on the heels of her lukewarm "The Wedding Planner"). Given Lopez's current appeal, it would probably be unwise for her to attempt anything controversial or challenging at this point, and "Angel Eyes," therefore, is exactly the right vehicle for her: she looks good, she turns in a decent performance, but she doesn't do anything risky, doesn't do anything to stretch herself as an actress.
Luis Mandoki's film (he made the Kevin Costner/Robin Wright sudser "Message in a Bottle") is another drama/mystery/thriller/romance, but those looking for anything more than a romance (replete with delectable JLo close-ups) will be disappointed--there's not a whole heck of a lot of drama here, even less mystery, and virtually zero thrills.
What starts out looking like a traditional police drama (Lopez plays a Chicago cop with relationship problems) quickly shifts gears with the arrival of a mysterious stranger. Catch (played by James Caviezel) is first seen observing (or, perhaps, spying on) Lopez's Sharon Pogue as she hangs out in bars and coffee shops, shooting the breeze with her peers, Chicago's finest. When Sharon is called into action, Catch is there to save her, but not after Sharon takes a few rounds to the chest (don't worry: we've already seen her strapping on her bullet proof vest). That scene is one of the film's better ones, especially if you watch Lopez's reactions as she rips open her protective garment to verify that it did its job.
So Catch and Sharon are introduced, and the more strange and mysterious Catch seems (that name, for instance), the more strangely and mysteriously attracted to him Sharon becomes. Judging from his rather sparsely-appointed apartment though, it's clear the guy has never heard of IKEA.
Unfortunately, "Angel Eyes" is almost always too obvious for its own good. It opens with a scene of Lopez's character rescuing someone from a car crash, and it's pretty apparent to anyone with half a brain that Catch is that someone, yet the filmmakers go out of their way to make that revelation, when it eventually comes, surprising. There's a falling-in-love montage--we've all seen those a thousand times before--and as the film slowly segues from tough police drama (Jen looks especially good in uniform) to touchy-feely cop romance (Jim seems to be doing *exactly* the same facial expressions he used in "Frequency" and "Pay It Forward"), Mandoki and writer Gerald Di Pego ("Message in a Bottle" also) turn up the manipulation factor one hundred fold. Caviezel's monologue in the cemetery is effective and convincing; Lopez's monologue at her parent's house is redundant and poorly timed.
That's Sonia Braga ("Kiss of the Spider Woman," "The Milagro Beanfield War"), by the way, looking a lot older than her years, as Sharon's mother and Shirley Knight ("Dutchman," "Petulia," and other cult '60s movies), looking just about right, as Catch's mother-in-law Elanora Davis.
"Angel Eyes" won't hurt Jennifer Lopez's career any but it's only a so-so addition to her sometimes impressive résumé.
-- David N. Butterworth dnb@dca.net
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