Plot
The violent story about how a criminal lesbian, a tough-guy hit-man with a heart of gold, and a retarded man came to be best friends through a hostage.
Release Year: 2003
Rating: 2.4/10 (32,483 voted)
Critic's Score: 18/100
Director:
Martin Brest
Stars: Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, Justin Bartha
Storyline Gigli, a lowly and inept hitman, is assigned a job by the mob to kidnap a mentally retarded brother of a California district attorney. Gigli abducts the brother from his mental hospital and holds him hostage in his apartment. Ricki, a "lesbian assassin", is sent to oversee Gigli's job and make sure he doesn't screw it up. Comedic high jinks ensue as the two go on the lam and start to fall in love.
Cast: Ben Affleck
-
Larry Gigli
Terry Camilleri
-
Man in Dryer
(as Terrence Camilleri)
David Backus
-
Laundry Customer
Lenny Venito
-
Louis
Robert Silver
-
Man in Debt
Luis Alberto Martínez
-
Adult Care Resident
Justin Bartha
-
Brian
Jennifer Lopez
-
Ricki
Christopher Walken
-
Det. Stanley Jacobellis
Todd Giebenhain
-
High School Kid #1
Brian Sites
-
High School Kid #2
Brian Casey
-
High School Kid #3
Les Bradford
-
High School Kid #4
David Bonfadini
-
High School Kid #5
Dwight Ketchum
-
High School Kid #6
(as Dwight P. Ketchum)
Taglines:
Murder. Blackmail. Temptation. Redemption. It's been a busy week.
Filming Locations: Culver Studios - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA
Box Office Details
Budget: $54,000,000
(estimated)
Opening Weekend: $3,753,518
(USA)
(3 August 2003)
(2215 Screens)
Gross: $6,068,735
(USA)
(17 August 2003)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
Received such bad reviews that it was dropped by every UK cinema after only one week.
Goofs:
Continuity:
When Ricky and Larry are leaving to meet Louis, she is wearing an orange-colored shirt under her jacket, but when they're with Louis and Starkman she's wearing a different shirt.
Quotes:
[first lines]
Larry Gigli:
You see, after all is said and done, the only thing you can be really sure of, the only thing you can really count on in this world, is that you just never fucking know.
These are the words I read from some of North America's most respected
film
critics in my research before viewing the debacle Gigli starring Ben
Affleck
and Jennifer Lopez. At first, I wondered aloud 'how bad can it be'.
After
all, how often does the common public agree with the harsh words of a
critic. Besides, Pacino and Walken in the same film should be enough to
generate even one star out of even the sternest critic, right. Right?
Gigli is about two unbelievable gangsters who are assigned the task of
kidnapping and watching over a prosecutors mentally challenged brother
while
also keeping an open eye on each other to ensure the success of the
operation. Ben plays Gigli, an accent challenged goon who is as
believable
as Madonna in a nuns uniform, and Jennifer plays Ricky, a lesbian gangster
who is primarily hired to ensure that Gigli doesn't screw things up.
Along the way, plenty of bit characters and ridiculous side plots stymie
the
progress of the mission. Ricky has an ex-lover show up at the house and
attempt suicide, the gangsters ask for the thumb of the prisoner sent to
the
prosecutor, Gigli has to rush to his mothers house and learns that good
ole
ma knows all about lesbians and throughout the film we are constantly
annoyed by conversations between Gigli and his crime boss, Lenny over the
phone. I could go on, but what's the point.
Gigli was one of the worst reviewed films of 2003. So I began to wonder
why
this film in particular ended up on everyone's poop list even though there
were plenty of worse films people were throwing good money at (Boat Trip,
Bad Boys II, Masked and Anonymous). The answer became pretty obvious.
Nothing was expected of these other entries, but Gigli had the star power
of
the two most talked about celebrities in Tinseltown. Throw in director
Martin Brest who has had incredible success with Scent of a Woman,
Midnight
Run and Beverley Hills Cop, and sprinkle in the veteran a-list power of
Christopher Walken and Al Pacino. With a recipe as rich as these
ingredients suggest, one's expectations are set to a higher standard.
Gigli
simply does not deliver the goods. The dialogue is so laughable that you
expect this film to have midnight showings a la Rocky Horror Picture Show
in
the next ten years, and the characters are so eccentrically hysterical
that
you can't help but cringe in your seat in embarrassment for all those
involved.
So now back to the critics. We, owe you an apology. Most of the year, we
read your reviews and chastise your opinions, but every once and a while,
a
consensus amongst your peers keeps us from going in mass and spending our
hard earned dollars on crap like this. A $6 million dollar domestic take
for Gigli is an example of the power that you possess, and for that, I
will
keep reading.
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