Booty Call (1997)

reviewed by
James Berardinelli


S h o r t  R e v i e w s  O n  V i d e o  - -  B y  J u s t i n  S i e g e l
                BOOTY CALL -- movie reviews by Justin Siegel

BOOTY CALL is a hilarious, fun-filled romp through one very long night in the lives of two black best friends. One, Rushon (Tommy Davidson), is a sensible guy who has been going out with Nikki (Tamala Jones) for seven weeks -- and they've yet to sleep together. Rushon's bud Bunz (the hilarious Jamie Foxx) can't believe that, and he bets Rushon that he can "get it on" with Nikki's friend Lysterine (Vivica A. Fox) before Rushon can do the same with Nikki.

This leads to quite a few funny sequences and one hysterical one involving the two guys' attempts to get lucky, and their frequent trips to the Indian-owned convenience store, for things like condoms and plastic-wrap. The first hour contains a few of the funniest lines of 1997, but in the last 20-or-so minutes, BOOTY CALL goes way downhill. Still definately worth a rental.

        B (report card)                 7 (out of 10)                      *** (0 to ****)

LOVE AND OTHER CATASTROPHES -- a movie review by Justin Siegel

A movie like LOVE AND OTHER CATASTROPHES, which is an Australian romantic-comedy, is sure to be slammed by critics. They will undoubtedly compare it to MURIEL'S WEDDING, it won't match up, and then they savagely pan it. But, honestly, this tale of five totally different, but equally messed-up college students is actually quite an enjoyable way to spend 75 minutes (one thing to be said for this movie is that it doesn't outstay its welcome).

LOVE's story: Character 1 loves Character 2 whose friend Character 3 loves character 1 and Character 1's friend Character 4 is a lesbian whose ex-girlfriend Character 5 is now dating Character 6, who Character 5 doesn't like at all. Forgive me for forgetting all their names. It's not anything new or special, but it is something good, and that's enough for me. Worth a rental.

        B- (report card)        7 (out of 10)                *** (0 to ****)

THE RELIC -- a movie review by Justin Siegel

THE RELIC will, I'm sure, be remembered by me in January, 1998, as a fixture on my bottom-10 of 1997 list. This film is a horrible, boring, overlong would be-horror film that shouldn't have been made in the first place. Why do they continue to make bad films based on bad books? I don't know, but if this tale of a part-human monster terrorizing a museum is any sort of clue, movie producers will stop.

Penelope Ann Miller, a fine actress, is useless here as the brilliant, beutiful, endangered scientist who has to get herself and a bunch of other idiots to safety. What's really sad, is that Miller, a relative no-name, is the biggest star in this film. No, I take that back -- what's really sad is this film. I could go on for paragraphs and paragraphs about the stupidity and implausability of this cartoonishly bad movie, but I digress. This is a bad movie. Bad. Look at it on the shelf and walk away.

        D- (report card)                 1 (out of 10)                ½ * (0 to ****)

THAT DARN CAT -- a movie review by Justin Siegel

THAT DARN CAT is a slapstick-y comedy about a cat that stumbles onto a kidnapping. Patti (Christina Ricci) lives in the nothing-town of Edgefield, a suburb of Boston, and she hates it there. She likes her cat, though, and when this cat comes home with a watch around its neck saying "Hell" (well, "Hell" actually) she begins putting all the pieces together, and after much hassle, gets a rookie FBI agent (Doug E. Doug) to help her.

I wasn't expecting much from this live-action, Disney children's comedy. And I didn't get much, either. I did however, get enough to have _almost_ enjoyed the movie. While some jokes fall flat (a Keystone Cops-esque chase through town), some are quite funny (two rival gas-station owners' feud). The way that Edgefield goes from being a boring, stupid town by day, and a wierd, PG-BLUE VELVET-ish town by night, makes me wonder what an auteur like David Lynch could've done with this script. Rent it if there's nothing to do.

        C+ (report card)           6 (out of 10)                ** ½ (0 to ****)

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