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(2003)

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1/10
Critics, we owe you an apology
gregsrants18 January 2004
`Awful', `Hopeless', `Terrible', `Benifer's Gate'.

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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2/10
$54,000,000! Where did all the money go?
caspian197816 June 2004
I saw this movie and hated about 99% of it. After I found out it cost $54,000,000 to make, I started to hate the other 1%. If this is considered a love story between Lopez and Affleck, may I ask...where was the love? A sex scene with no nudity, no passion, and no sound....why? Supporting characters like Christopher Walken and others were introduced and went no where...why? The story alone peeks when Pacino arrives and shoots one of the cast members. From there, i was hoping that Pacino had finished the job and killed the rest of the cast. If that happened, the movie would have been good. Instead, the movie drags and drags and drags. The audience is not going to care if the actors in the movie learn something or progress if they don't care about the characters. Lopez and Affleck's characters do not exist! Much like the ugly tattoos on Affleck's shoulder, the movie was not fun to look at. In my opinion, and I do not think I am wrong, if Lopez had a small nude scene and / or the movie was done as an independent film for under 2 or 3 million, Gigli would have been a giant success. Instead, we are left to wonder....why?
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Suffered from Ben and J-Lo backlash and isn't as bad as many say, but is still an ill-formed, poorly judged shambles
bob the moo15 February 2004
Larry Gigli is a hired thug for the mob in LA. When he is put on a job to kidnap the brother of the Federal DA, he takes the mentally handicapped Brian to his flat with the intention of the DA dropping charges against his boss. Later he is joined by another contractor, Ricki, who Louis has put with him to make sure he doesn't f**k the job up. His amorous approaches towards her are rejected when she tells him she is a lesbian, but the two have bigger problems with the job itself.

I rented this film because I had read all the harsh reviews, both professional and on this site, that just ripped into it and seemed to have more personal vendettas against the stars rather than objective points to make about the film. With this in mind I decided that I would have to check it out myself; I have no personal feelings about Lopez and Affleck - their relationship is not something I have had rammed down my throat as I don't read the gossips mags and my paper of choice is the Times, where they get rather limited coverage. Without this fatigue I was able to view the film as it came to me rather than seething with cruel and clever put downs even before the film started (as some critics clearly did).

However, the critics were mostly right, even if they overreacted to the extreme. The film starts reasonably well and you can see the potential, or at least you can see what they were thinking when the film was being put together. Sadly, as the film continues, the thin strands holding it together are slowly unravelling until almost nothing is left of value. Some of it works well; how many times have the audience embraced a comic crime caper with hit men in the lead roles? Here the film does have some of that type of humour (particularly in the jokes about Gigli's masculinity) but the music used to set the tone begins to grate after a while because there is nothing to support it, and everything else is flawed.

The main plot is so very full of holes and stupid plot devices that it is difficult to be involved by it. For a crime comedy, the plot doesn't need to be perfect - but it needs to be good enough so that it doesn't take away from the film, here it is so weak that it damages the film at it's core. The other side of the plot is the romance, and it is absurd! I'm sure if I were a lesbian that I would be offended by the `I'll turn her' approach of the film, but I'm not so I'll leave that for others to debate. However the romance between the two is unrealistic and uninvolving, the lesbian thing just makes it worse.

The characters themselves are poor. Neither Gigli or Ricki ever seem like killers - in fact even a hint of violence and they look terrified and out of their depth. His personality seems to change to whatever the scene requires (one moment impatient, the next sensitive, the next angry) while Ricki is just sweetness and light. Affleck and Lopez must take almost all the blame for this, their performances are as misjudged and lacking as the script. Affleck is actually not that bad - he is willing to send himself up, it is the jumping script that makes him appear to be all over the place. Lopez is awful; someone who has done this crime comedy style movie before should have been much better but she acts like she is in a simpering rom-com. What is surprising is just how little chemistry the two have considering they are a couple now; they just don't do the job at all.

Bartha gives a dumb Rain Man impression to the point where I kept expecting him to say `I'm an excellent driver'. His character is just a joke and I even wished for Lopez to come onto the screen whenever he was on - at least I could just stare at her body and ignore him! The two main cameos are actually very good but unfortunately serve to show up the rest of the film. Walken is good but his character appears and disappears without reason, Pacino is much better simply because he does his menacing `woo-ha' thing and is very effective.

Overall this is not the `worst film ever made', those who tell you that have clearly have a limited viewing experience; many of the reviews were made harsher by the back lash against the whole Bennifer thing. However that's not to say they are wrong - only overly harsh. The film is poorly judged in almost every aspect and is too hard to enjoy as a result. Has about 3 good moments in it, but it is an overwhelming shambles.
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J-Lo and Ben: 2 of the most laughable characters ever
MLDinTN10 June 2004
J-Lo and Ben were badly miscast as gangsters in this. Neither is believable.

We are supposed to believe Ricki (J-LO) is a gangster and mean just because she says so. She does absolutely nothing to make her seem dangerous. But, then it gets even funnier when she shows up in a crop top shirt, letting it all show, only to announce she's gay. What! J-Lo is just too famous for anyone to see her as gay, not to mention, she never acts like it in the film.

As for Ben, he's really bad too. He's uses this horrible accent and swears a lot. I guess that means we are supposed to believe he's a tough gangster from New York because of this. He doesn't have the stomach to cut off a finger and he lets a guy that owes money only pay half. No muscle man would act like such a wuss.

Then we get the mentally challenged guy that plays some role with the plot, but I'm not sure what because the plot never made sense to me. I never got the whole point of kidnapping the guy. Then there are the very bad dialogue scenes that have been mentioned many times. What was the writer thinking and how could Bennifer say those lines without laughing. And I still don't get why a lesbian would give that yoga speech to a guy in such a seductive way. So unbelievable.

The only thing that made me laugh was Gigli reading to the retarded guy. He read what's on tabasco sauce bottle and charmin toilet paper.

FINAL VERDICT: Gobble, gobble says it all. Overall bad acting and writing. But I have seen worse movies. I only recommend it for those who feel compelled to see J-Lo looking really hot for a couple of hours.
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1/10
You must never see it.
David_Frames25 May 2005
Smug and a self-adorned cine-sophisticate, I rented out Gigli with a friend ready to scrutinise it with the benefit of my enlightened view of film. It was going to be an hilarious two hours. I'd settled down in a very comfy armchair and had poured a glass of some Austrian glug. I couldn't wait to laugh at the stupid dialogue and that ridiculous script but the joke was on us because Gigli transcends the established limit of effective urine stealing. This is because its simply so horrible that you can forget trying to make yourself look intelligent and media literate by ripping the bladder evacuate because the scale of misguided conception baffles the mind and eventually shuts it down. It's like being hit by a sack full of bricks in the face for a full 114 minutes. There's a teasing little scene with J-Lo early on when she tells a bunch of unruly kids that there's a martial arts move that can gouge out the eyes and simultaneously destroy the visual cortex meaning that not only are you rendered blind but you'll never be able to remember anything you've seen. For the Gigli viewer this is like showing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to a hall packed with diabetics. You're left to ponder the short term agony weighed up against the long term benefit as Martin Brest's story unfolds with the principle characters of a unlikeable, emotionally and sexually retarded thug with a soft centre (a fat Affleck), a lesbian who isn't really a lesbian because you can be converted to heterosexuality by an emotionally and sexually retarded thug and an actually retarded man who was probably supposed to be a Rainman-type character who redeems Affleck's arrogant meathead but is in fact a cringe inducing, self-harm facilitating caricature of the mentally handicapped. Look, many movies look good on paper and suffer from poor execution but what's head scratching about Gigli is that it's as dire on the page as it is on screen. Broadly it's supposed to be a romantic comedy, sort of Out of Sight meets Rainman meets Whats New Pussycat? but it's stillborn as a criminal caper, devoid of anything approaching sensitivity and has some of the worst battle of the sexes banter that ever crawled onto the screen. Brest, who directed the dire 16 hour remake of Meet John Doe, Meet Joe Black, shows that when it comes to misjudging material he's peerless. His crimes here are compounded by the fact that this is his own script. That script, incidentally is a roll call of on screen horror. Witness, if you can, the Penis Vs. Vagina scene in which Affleck argues the case for the male genitals or the tear jerking moment in which the soft hearted Affleck, having given the Mentally Handicapped Brian relationship advice, looks on like a proud father as his new friends woos an Australian bombshell during the filming of a Baywatch beach party. You'll envy the man who gets his brains blown out and eaten by goldfish or the horrendous girlfriend of J-Lo, who having realised which film she's in, slits her wrists...stupidly, the wrong way. Once its all over and you sit there open mouthed you're left to (briefly) ponder why Brest did it. Did the kidnapped brother have to be disabled? Surely there must have been a more effective way of facilitating Affleck's transition from idiot to slightly more compassionate idiot? Did J-Lo have to be a Lesbian? Sure, Affleck has to have some obstacles toward getting the girl and we all like a bit of sexual tension but gay viewers must have been flabbergasted that a man who describes men and women as "the bull and the cow" and does lovable things like warmly looking vacuous and endearingly been obnoxious should persuade a woman to er, "hop over the fence". And even if Brest was blinded by his own vanity what in the name of Beverly Hills Cop persuaded Christopher Walken and Al Pacino to cameo? None of it makes any sense. The bottle of wine I had with the film was good though but by the time I regained consciousness the bit left in the bottle was undrinkable.
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1/10
Rhymes with 'Really'. As in Really Bad.
bigboybhatia7 June 2004
I borrowed my friend's Gigli DVD to see if the movie was really as bad as the ratings and other comments here will indicate. The answer is yes. When the film first came out, it rocketed to number 1 on the bottom 100 list. That ranking was undeserved, as the movie does have decent technical aspects (editing, sound) relative to Manos and Future War. Its good to see Gigli settling a little further down the list. From the outset, I could tell the dialog was just horrible. It was unfunny 90% of the time, and contained useless overlong scenes. One example was the whole 'pleasing a woman' sequence where Lopez was doing Yoga on a mat while talking with Affleck. Just horrible. Jennifer Lopez has to win the award for most painfully miscast actress. She is totally unbelievable as a Lesbian girl gangster. She failed to convince me that she had ever broken the law in the past. 'I did some really bad things' -- yeah right. I would avoid this like the plague. 1/10
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6/10
The review that will make my entire career questionable
StevePulaski7 November 2013
I would love to view writer/director Martin Brest's original version of Gigli, which was said to be a black comedy with very offbeat humor and no romantic subplot at all. I would also love to have seen how that film would've fared amongst critics rather than the one that was released to the public. During its release, I find the film's extremely poor reception and disastrous box office performance unsurprising. The gossip about the relationship between Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez was overexposed, obsessive drivel and tabloids raced to the neverending finish line of publishing nonsensical articles about the couple and bedazzled them beyond recognition. This was one of the key things that led to Ben Affleck's negative public persona and made it irreparable until he adopted a directorial career in 2007.

Viewing Gigli a decade later, when news of Affleck and Lopez's relationship has long past faded into obscurity, the film is nowhere near as bad as people have said. In fact, it's a farcry from the worst film I've seen this year. I'd go as far as to call it somewhat enjoyable in the regard that it's always amusing in the way the characters interact with one another and the way the actors handle the absurd material they've been handed. However, in the long run, I prefer to view Gigli as a product and discuss its impact on its actors along with how its time of release greatly affected its reception.

But this will be explored later on. The film revolves around Larry Gigli (pronounced Jee-lee), played by Ben Affleck, a second-rate mobster who is hired by his crime boss (Lenny Venito) to kidnap the mentally-challenged brother of a federal prosecutor to prevent the imprisonment of a New York mob boss. In addition, a woman by the name of "Ricki" (Jennifer Lopez), a dominant lesbian, is hired by Gigli's crime boss to keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't screw this job up. It is a screenplay obligation that Gigli and Ricki eventually become attracted to one another, despite their differing sexual orientations.

It's no surprise why the film was panned, seeing as casting both Affleck and Lopez in a romantic comedy as their heavily-documented marriage was approaching seemed to be nothing more than a tabloid-sponsored film catering to the same people that inhabit the checkout lines of grocery stores with several of the magazines on the conveyor belt. However, Affleck isn't the one giving the bad performance. His pseudo-tough guy appearance is intentional, something I hope people understood when the film was released and understand now. If anybody's performance should be criticized, it's Jennifer Lopez, who gives a wooden, wholly unbelievable performance as an attractive lesbian, who still finds it amusing and fun to flirt with a heterosexual male just to revert to the "I'm a lesbian" line. Her role is as contrived as they come, even with ten years of age.

The most challenging role of the film easily belongs to Justin Bartha (who later made himself a name in The Hangover franchise), playing the mentally-handicapped brother. His performance ranges from senseless exploitation to somewhat heartfelt and believable. It all depends on what writer Brest feels like detailing at the specific time. Once in a great while, we'll see his charming innocence come through. At other times, we'll see him sing a rendition of Sir Mix a Lot's "Baby Got Back" and do a little wincing.

The other thing to note is the film's use of music, which seems largely out of place. Consider the scene where Gigli, Ricki, and the prosecutor's brother are eating lunch and bouncy pop music plays, somewhat indicating a sex scene or a scene of seduction. The music is entirely out of place and provides an odd shift in tone. Scenes like this are rather frequent in Gigli and the jarring tonal shift is hard not to notice when it's something as quietly but noticeably abrupt as misplaced-music.

On to the legacy Gigli has left. Many people involved with the making of the film felt some kind of rough, turbulent backlash on their careers once the picture was released. It took poor Affleck, as stated, years to rebound into a marketable, respectable name, and if it wasn't for stupendous directorial efforts such as Gone Baby Gone, The Town, and Argo, his name would likely still inspire sneers and eye-rolls. Jennifer Lopez never really got back on her acting feet after this film, and became somewhat of a faded pop singer who had little to offer.

But the one person that seemed to be affected the most is director Martin Brest, who made films like Meet Joe Black and Midnight Run long before this picture. Gigli is the last film he ever made and has disbanded into something of a recluse since. He has given no interviews since its release, has not participated in any film projects, and has left his whereabouts to be nothing more than a thought in a person's mind. After the studio debacle with the film's plot and creative differences, he has vanished into unknown obscurity, with no plans to direct or participate in any film again.

It would definitely seem that people were too quick to label Gigli as one of the worst films ever made. It's definitely a rocky picture, very uneven, structured very peculiarly thanks to rewrites, and features performances that range from mediocre to above average. However, it's an entertaining piece of work, if one can accept the challenge of ignoring its horribly low ratings and criticisms it has garnered over the years. This is the kind of film I'll be judged for tolerating and, if that's the case, so be it. I got a handful of films at the top of my head that may make even the most hardened-Gigli hater reconsider their opinion.
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1/10
A Flat, Lifeless Lump of a Movie
CTS-13 January 2005
Warning: Spoilers
A truly cynical person might think that the whole J-Lo/ Ben Affleck relationship was a publicity stunt designed to help this movie along. After all, if a couple was in the midst of a passionate affair, it is reasonable to expect some on-screen chemistry between then, right? That kind of chemistry is sadly lacking in the J-Lo/ Affleck interactions.

Ms. Lopez appears to be either in over her head as far as acting ability, or realized that she was in a "take the money and run" failure; I did not buy her as the character she was supposed to be. Affleck was just leaden, although he had nothing to work with in terms of character or dialogue. He has not always been bad (I liked "Chasing Amy"), but here, his scenes crawl along at a painfully slow pace. The "retarded kid" (and that is all he deserves to be called) is playing a high-school play version of "Rain Man" with all the annoyance but none of the nuance, complexity, or charm. The less seen, the better. Forgettable cameos top the mess.

The worst thing about Gigli is the endings. Imagine a painfully bad film, where you want to sit it through to the end, just because of all the pain and suffering it has put you through ("this film is NOT going to defeat me"). You get to the end. Then, there is another ending. Then, another ending; then, an ending involving the retarded kid. Then, an ending not involving the retarded kid. Then another... You get to a point where you sincerely believe that the editor should be forbidden from ever working in film again. Along with the director and the choad who did the bizarrely inappropriate music, as well.

The colorful, in-your-face awfulness of "From Justin to Kelly" was a picnic compared to the leaden, meandering awfulness of "Gigli." And, to think of how much this film cost, for so little...
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1/10
I lost two hours of my life.
lindzeyhh23 June 2016
Things I would rather do than watch this movie ever again:

1.) Smash my head on a boulder. 2.) Lick a gas station toilet seat.

3.) Be attacked by a zombie. 4.) Send my paycheck to a Nigerian "prince" I met online. 5.) Make out with a chicken's butthole. 6.) Give myself a non-medicated root canal. 7.) Face off with a T-rex. 8.) Bathe with buffalo diarrhea. 9.) Swim in an active volcano. 10.) Eat aforementioned buffalo diarrhea.

It's long. It's horrible. Just. Don't. Gosh dang it, I have to add more stuff because I have to add at least 10 lines of text. Hmmm.... TWO AND A HALF FREAKING HOURS WASTED! OH the things I could have accomplished. But no... It was wasted on this horrible, awful, insulting, narcissistic-filled piece of crap. J-Lo is a lesbian in the beginning, but of course, Ben Asshat "turns" her straight. GTFO here, Ben. Did they really have to go there? Really... I am going to leave it at that. This film has taken enough of my time, and by typing this review, I am just reliving the garbage memories.
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6/10
Defending Gigli (Really)
abooboo-214 February 2005
Warning: Spoilers
I've postponed seeing this film for quite a while for obvious reasons: it's arguably the most hated film ever made, perhaps even more than "Battlefield Earth." But last night morbid curiosity finally got the best of me and I caught it on Encore.

And amazingly, astonishingly, against all odds, it's not that bad. It isn't great, it isn't even quite good, but on a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give it a 6. It's okay. It held my interest from start to finish and even had some intriguing elements that far less notorious failures have lacked.

What surprised me most was how heartfelt and engaging it was, thanks mainly to one of Ben Affleck's best performances. Turns out he's got a real flair for comedy; his half-baked Robert DeNiro impersonation is a hoot, and I have no doubt is quite intentional. The movie is built around his baffled/flummoxed/bemused/exasperated reactions to his ill-tempered boss, gorgeous lesbian watchdog, and handicapped hostage, and they're all quite believable and funny. Naturally, given the amount of vitriol that was directed at the film, I assumed that Affleck just phoned in his performance (as he's been known to do) but that's far, far from the case. He carries this film the way Tom Cruise carried "Rain Man." Of course, "Gigli" is not "Rain Man," but it's not Affleck's fault.

"Gigli" is, remarkably, a genuinely and quite intentionally funny film at times, more so than the obvious and desperate "Bringing Down the House," for instance. Affleck half-heartedly reading the toilet paper packaging in lieu of a bedtime story to pacify his child-like hostage is hysterical. So is the latter's "Baywatch" obsession and his antics with Affleck's cell phone and his "who's on first?" routine with Affleck's boiling crime boss.

Justin Bartha, as the mentally handicapped hostage, is no Dustin Hoffman, to be sure, and at times his performance makes you cringe because his level of retardation seems to fluctuate depending on the scene -- but he gets laughs. Jennifer Lopez really struggles with some of her line readings (particularly in her scene with Al Pacino; how is this the same actress who was so impressive playing a similar character in "Out of Sight"?) but she looks amazing and she gives off the necessary sexual spark to make the romantic comedy elements work.

But if only director Martin Brest had revised his script before shooting, to iron out the film's three principle flaws. One, it's so weak the way Lopez' character is introduced; I guess that's something many viewers just couldn't get past. She's clearly no tougher than Affleck is, so why is she there again? It might have been interesting if Affleck's boss had had a secret soft side, recognized his underling's loneliness and sent Lopez to try to kill two birds with one stone: "cure" Lopez of her homosexuality and play cupid. But he has no soft side; he's a two-dimensional monster, and it never makes a great deal of sense.

Second, the plot is much too thin. Christopher Walken shows up for one scene and then vanishes, never to be heard from again! This film obviously NEEDS him to stick around and keep the heat on our heroes, in addition to Affleck's boss. How a filmmaker as experienced as Martin Brest could have failed to recognize that is beyond me. I can only speculate that the studio wanted to max out the Bennifer angle and stuff in as many scenes featuring the two of them as possible, even at the expense of our greatest living character actor, not to mention the demands of the story.

Third, the film is 30 minutes too long and badly edited. There are a number of scenes that just stretch on two, three or four beats longer than they should, particularly that scene where Lopez scares off those punks with her interminable eye-gouging monologue. I'd heard that the dialogue in "Gigli" was just atrocious, but I didn't really think it was that bad, just long-winded. Had the film been edited down to a compact 90 minutes, I have little doubt that it would have received a more favorable response. There's just enough material here for a good movie, but Brest spreads it too thin.

The most interesting thing about "Gigli" is that it's kind of a tender-hearted crime flick. It's more interested in the feelings and the emotions of its characters than the violence they engage in, or refuse to engage in. The sudden killing towards the end of the film is as jarring as anything I've seen because it comes out of nowhere, and Affleck and Lopez seem authentically horrified at what they've witnessed; in most crime films, the leads would feign disinterest and play it cool - not here.

I really bought that Bartha brought out the big brother, father figure in Affleck and Lopez his sensitive, caring, feminine side. Clearly he's not cut out for his line of work, and that's what his two companions help him to realize. That is not an insignificant thing. Would that less reviled films boasted such a satisfying character arc.

So why does this film have a microscopic 2.2 rating at IMDb? Perhaps people are reviewing Affleck's and Lopez' over-publicized, failed romance instead of the film - beats the heck out of me.
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1/10
Those Five dollars could've got me some chicken McNuggets!!!!
robojesus7776 August 2003
I could've went to McDonald's with my five buck and gotten something to eat but INSTEAD I went and saw the new J-lo/ Ben Affleck puke bonanza titled; Gigli. God, I'm an IDIOT!!! The first ten minutes weren't so bad but then I realized I was in "Finding Nemo". When I made my way to the right theater- I was horrifed!This was Gigli? A J-Lo movie ALL ABOUT J-LO- Well I never! Anywho- there's only too things worse then this movie: 1, Burning to death and 2, burning to death while watching "Gigli"

for A movie titled "Gigli" -- I never laughed once! Total rip off! Horrible! I give it 4 stars **** ...out of 240!
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6/10
Like a Greatest Hits Album.....
neal2zod18 April 2005
You know how you get a Greatest Hits Album and there's a handful of good songs, the ones you know and love, and then the rest are stinkers? Filler just put there to pad out the time? That's basically like Gigli, a movie that's not particularly good as a whole, but has some knockout individual scenes.

First off, let's be honest...it's not as bad as we've been led to believe. Look at the message board - more and more people are admitting "it's not that bad". Not exactly praise, but considering SO many people voted this into the Bottom 100 (it's at #29 when I wrote this), I think it's safe to say most of those were just padded votes, mainly from people who wanted to hate this movie and hated the whole "Bennifer" thing. Ebert gave it mild thumbs down and said he was deluged with hate mail complaining how he didn't hate it ENOUGH. Gimme a break.

OK, the plot is awful. No bones about that. In case you don't know, here it is: A mafia hit-man kidnap's a DA's retarded brother so the case won't go to trial. He's a notorious screwup, so the mob sends a 2nd hit-man, who's a lesbian and looks like a supermodel, to make sure Hit-man #1 doesn't screw up. They sit around an apartment, talking and debating. Random people show up and they have to hide the retarded kid. Every once in a while they go out for Mexican (in a convertible with the top down!!) What in the world?? And this was supposed to be a big summer movie? I suspect writer/director Martin Brest came up for the storyline in a dream and for some reason thought it was a good idea. It's not. Watching this movie is akin to having an annoying roommate who keeps changing the channel between Rain Man, Prizzi's Honor, Chasing Amy, a failed sitcom about hit men, and any play with one set and no budget.

Why do I kinda like this movie then? Same reason I dig Brest's Beverly Hills Cop - there's scenes in here that are to die for. I remember as a kid, i'd rewind scenes in Beverly Hills Cop over and over again, because I thought they were the funniest things ever. Same here. There's at least 3 or 4 awesome scenes, and about 5 good ones as well. The rest is filler.

Witness: The "rip that tears the past". The speech in front of the mirror. The yoga scene. "Turkey time. Gobble Gobble." "The Baywatch." The Tabasco sauce. The morgue. The plastic knife. The "sweet hetero-lingus". Christopher Walken, showing more fire in 3 minutes than he has in YEARS, talking about ice cream and Marie Callendar's pies. Pacino's scene. Yes, he's YELLING again. He's playing a mobster again. So what? Now name another recent movie with that many rewind-worthy scenes. I can't either.

Jennifer Lopez is sexy in this movie. Anyone who says she's not is lying. Ben Affleck is not. Nor is he supposed to be. People who say he's trying to be "sexy and dangerous" missed the point somewhere. He's doing a riff on Andrew Dice Clay, plain and simple. He knows he's acting like a buffoon. Anyone who likes him on SNL should like him here.

Everyone should see this movie at least once. You'll have a good time. Even if you're watching it to see how bad it is, you won't be disappointed. No, I wouldn't want to sit through the whole movie again. It's too long and i honestly can't remember what the hell happened at the end. But movies like this are why DVD was invented.
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6/10
not an appalling travesty
rtcnz28 April 2007
Fully prepared for the worst movie ever made, my sister and I sat down to "Gigli". There were definite moments in which we were appalled and could see why this film is so hated.

BUT there were a lot of moments that we noted the film wasn't half bad. Most notably, the mentally disabled boy and Al Pacino. But while Ben Affleck was a bit of a horror, Jennifer Lopez shone (in terms of sexual appeal) throughout the film.

One of the weakest parts of the film for me was the fact that they had a romantic relationship even though she was a lesbian. Are we supposed to believe that Ben Affleck is such a man's man that even a lesbian can't resist? And since when did any self-respecting female gangster dress like a music video?
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6/10
Not as bad as credited
Floated219 May 2016
After years have passed since Gigli has been released, and within the constant media and critics hate towards the film. One has decided to settle and watch the film. Gigli was released in 2003 during the peak of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez's romance career, and many have dismissed the film's failures on them. The film had a massive budget of 54 million yet only made 7 million worldwide. One would consider this as a major reason for the film being as criticized.

Gigli has a different sense of what is wants to be. Considered as a romantic crime comedy. The film does bring out several levels of romance in a predictable relationship with the leads. The plot is thin and the film does have several scenes which stretch out, yet could have been edited about 20 minutes shorter. Although even with its flaws, Gigli remains an entertaining watch, due to the fact that there are many unintentional funny and clever scenes. For such a crime gangster film, the ending does have a heart and tender feel about it. Many have dismissed the film as too violent, though there is only one really violent scene, as an unexpected jump scene. Lenghty cameo scenes are made by Christopher Walken and Al Pacino, in which some considered a saving point of the film. As a rewatch on 05/10/23' Gigli remains an unintentional funny film which is still better than criticized for. The pace is off at certain points yet still enjoyable.
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9/10
A Break Out Movie For Good
tabuno13 January 2019
29 September 2015. I guess I watched a completely different movie from the vast majority of audience members. What I did see was an authentic and extensive sprinkling of coarse language and the evolving relationship between a coarse man and a human with mental disabilities as well with a sophisticated refined woman who had a lot to teach both Gigli and the audience about language, about peaceful resolution to conflict, about courage, and strong femininity. This movie really stood out for its carefully crafted treatment of mental disability in the same vein as Rain Man (1988) and its handling of violence. This movie instead of the typical rough housing, masculine action movie, this movie turns the stereotypical crime thriller into a relational drama that offers up valuable lessons for living. This movie is a substantive and worthwhile look at the awkward and amusing tension between masculinity and femininity.
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1/10
Really, really bad
TheLittleSongbird16 February 2011
I will give some credit where it's due, I don't think Gigli is the worst movie ever made. However, that is very faint credit, it is still a terrible movie with few redeeming features.

The cinematography is rather shoddy and the lighting is considerably dull. Neither do anything to compliment some decent surroundings, while the music is just bizarre and badly placed. The direction starts off inept and never recovers, while the script is just cringe-worthy with some lines verging on the really cheesy side, none of the characters are likable or well written and the story is full of plot holes and unnecessary scenes.

The acting in general is terrible. Ben Affleck is rather stiff and uncomfortable, but he is nothing compared to the terror that is Jennifer Lopez. And it doesn't help that there is absolutely no chemistry whatsoever between them. And how great actors such as Christopher Walken and Al Pacino signed up for this film I shall never know. Actually, they weren't too bad, Walken's character was just poorly explored but he did what he could. Pacino fared much better, and he is the sole saving grace of an otherwise dismal picture.

All in all, it is really, really bad but not the worst movie I have seen. 1/10 Bethany Cox
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1/10
hello?
CrowServoNelson8 April 2004
Can anyone locate a plot for this movie? I won't bother spoiling anything for you because wel...there isn't anything to spoil. Absolutely nothing happens in this movie! Thank god I only watched it with my friends as a joke to add to a school project.

Let's just say there are a lot of lines that bring this movie down a lot. I'm sure all the late night hosts have already summed these up in one way or another. I was lost after the first ten minutes, and it's hard to get through the first five! My advice to you is...if you want to see a movie that is at least remotely watchable...AVOID this one. For the love of God!!
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6/10
What happened with "Gigli"?
jpschapira8 May 2005
When it starts; "Gigli" looks like an old comedy; like something from the eighties. There's a screen in blackout and a guy is talking some things; it looks like they're prepared to have fun. I'm sure they had a lot of fun, but I'm not sure if you will when you watch.

I didn't have a lot of fun but the movie generates some laughs. You'll be killing me when you hear this, but it's some kind of unique experience. It was hated by everyone and it will be forever considered as one of the worst movies ever done; even when it's not that bad (as "The Lord of the Rings" will be considered one of the best movies ever even when it's not that good). Come on, you know there are other factors that made people reject this film. There's always a say about "couples in real life don't have chemistry in movies". This film's set made Affleck and Lopez fall in love. So, when the whole "Bennifer" thing started and this movie came up…It didn't have a chance.

Hollywood is overly severe with some movies. Actually, the truth is that, even when the film hasn't got the most adequate sense of humor; and it doesn't dominate it correctly (because the script repeats the same jokes, and goes crazy with the bad words as "fuck" and "shit"), the film has the best intentions. There must have been a reason (if it wasn't checking out Jennifer's ass) for Walken and Pacino to choose these roles. Their performances become stereotypes and each of them appears only once in the whole film. Probably there was a deep interest in big names for the film, and there was a deep amount of cash. Walken and Pacino are not the same as they used to be (I've talked about that before).

Ben Affleck is the main star as Larry Gigli, a kind of gangster that works doing jobs that include killing people, taking money and other stuff. Affleck gives the role an incredible personality. He ends up owning the role; with his hair, his tone of voice (sometimes a little Italian)… I like to remember Affleck as Kevin Smith's boy or as the guy that co-wrote with Matt Damon the script of the amazing "Good Will Hunting". Does Gigli ever finish a job? We never see him doing it; but he claims to be the "gangster of the gangsters", when he gives and absurd speech as he tries to impress Ricki. She's played by Jennifer Lopez and that's not the character's real name. Lopez, as always puts her charming comedy skills over her looks. This wasn't exactly the most convenient choice, but I say it all the time, and I'll say it now: Jennifer Lopez is a fine (just because excellent or great are longer) actress. I've only missed two of her movies, and I love how she does it. Drop the acting career girl! The starter Justin Bartha (Brian) easily steals the film. I don't know if the retards are the ones that stand out in films where hardly the rest does (I'm talking about Leonardo Di Caprio's character in "What's eating Gilbert Grape"), but he gives a measured performance, without exceeding in something we've seen tons of times before. Just to say: Lenny Venito shouldn't be acting.

And please, let's not bring down the man that brought Al Pacino to his best in "Scent of a Woman", took Eddie Murphy to success in "Beverly Hills Cop" and was behind Brad Pitt's very good (one of his best) performance in "Meet Joe Black". Yes, I'm talking about Martin Brest, who did this movie with the best intentions. His work is lame here, shooting the arm of one character and the face of another when two characters are talking; and making the actors walk to a determined part when they're going to talk so the camera can center them… The film's script is owner of an original storyline and different situations we haven't seen in a while. In the end, with the music and the stupid dramatic intensity, we realize: the film is obvious, manipulative; but somehow, you're waiting for Brian to take the jump.
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Nowhere as bad as everyone claims.
rossperry-1801910 December 2018
This was one laughed at movie. Jokes abounded on how astonishingly bad Gigli was. Is it true? The advance word on this film was so vicious that I had to see for myself if it's as bad as its early reputation suggested. The verdict: Gigli doesn't live up to (or should that be down to?) its hype. The worst film of all time? Give me a break. Gigli isn't even the worst film of the summer, and won't come close to the year's Bottom 10 list. I'm not going to defend the movie. I don't recommend it and, for the most part, it's an example of inept filmmaking, but it is watchable. I have to wonder if those who are coming down so hard on the motion picture have a secondary agenda. Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez are adequate- not Bogart/Hepburn but not too terrible either.
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5/10
Not as bad as word of mouth
Denver534 August 2004
I watched Gigli because I wanted to see how bad it was, and found myself surprised that it was decent. I think the whole Bennifer thing caused some kind of mass hysteria and people have ripped Gigli for reasons that don't have much to do with the movie.

It WAS tiresome, in some ways. The Rain Main guy was just a rip-off. And Affleck's gangster was not believable at all (how did a guy as sensitive as he is ever get this tough guy rep? The movie never says). JLo was surprising good. And the script about a hot lesbian gangster and a dumb male gangster wasn't bad. Well, the ending was bad. I mean, after calling the cops and telling them where the "lost" brother is, JLo and Ben hang around at the scene for a long, long time.

Pacino is excellent. Wish he was in it more. Walken was very good, but a weird character who never shows up again.

It seemed like the major problem with Gigli wasn't the acting or the script, but the way it was edited. It had the nut of a good movie, but somehow didn't pull it off. So I gave it a 5. Honestly, it wasn't Ishtar, or even Fahrenheit 9/11.
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6/10
Not good, but not bad enough to deserve all the negitive hype.
dafragsta12 January 2004
I watched this movie with the family over the Christmas holiday. As a little background info, I am for the most part a movie snob. That said, I had no part in selecting the movies we viewed that evening. In the lineup were Gigli, Boat Trip, and Tomb Raider 2. Suck, Suck, and... suck. Let's back up. Two of these movies are down right awful. Much worse than Gigli, which has some redeeming qualities, these movies didn't seem to find their way to the IMDB's bottom 100 of all time. Aside from the glaring contrast between these movies from the same time frame, we aren't here to talk about them.

Gigli does feature Affleck at his worst (and I know he can and has done a lot better); however, Jennifer Lopez was surprisingly good in this movie. She exhibited a great deal more range and showed that maybe she's just getting a bad rap from naysayers like the ilk over at Aint It Cool. The movie itself has a pretty respectable comedy element and is definitely worth a rent. Not to get too carried away, the movie is bad, but not to the standard in which it's been held.
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8/10
The only positive review of this movie
JackDevoe8 August 2003
Maybe there's 2 other people who like this movie, but oh well. ANyways, what's up with all the negative reviews and the other horrible things that have happened because of the reaction this movie received? From beginning to end, I though GIGLI was very enjoyable, well acted, well written with great diologue, and had a good pace.

Ben Affleck was having a good time with his role. Some people may say he doesn't have that tough guy persona, but he showed it really well here. Weather he was being a wisecracker or getting angry, he put in a great performance. Jennifer Lopez was excellent as Ricki. This is her best role. (That might not sound right to many people out there, but I mean it, and it's saying a lot.) Her delivery of her lines was great. And of course she and Ben had very very good chemestry. It is hard to beleive that they weren't in love at the time of this film. It was kind of like watching Tom Cruise and Penelope Cruz in VANILLA SKY where you could see both actors falling for each other. Such a thing was a joy to watch.

The movie had the feeling of GET SHORTY or OUT OF SIGHT with it's quirkyness. Even something of a HUDSON HAWK feel. (Another horribly blasted movie which was really a great film. Maybe these two have something in common.) Christopher Walken and Al Pacino come in to deliver their own monologues. I always love watching Chris act. He is so funny. Al was his usual self, and I never get tired of his acting.

I don't know what it is that people hate about this movie. Maybe it's because too many people are offended by how much Ben and Jenn are given so much attention because of their real life relationship. I really don't know what that has to do with hating a movie. Maybe it's because people expected something big?

Like what?

It's really sad that few people will be able to see into this film as being entertaining. Martin Brest hasn't directed a movie in 5 years. (MEET JOE BLACK, A very underrated film) I get the feeling that he won't be able to direct another movie for a long time. He is a very good director. The producer, Joe Roth is saying the movie's failure is his fault too, so that's a sign that Martin will be blacklisted because of this. What kind of injustice is that? Ben and Jenn will probably have to apologize about this movie too. It's a good thing they already have other movies coming out, or else their careers could be seriously hurt.

ATTENTION ALL OPEN MINDED PEOPLE: This isn't the best movie of the year,

but there really is a good movie in here.

8 out of 10
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4/10
Why Al Pacino, Christopher Walker, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck Accept Such a Cheesy and Corny Screenplay?
claudio_carvalho21 October 2004
Larry Gigli (Ben Affleck) is a kind of right arm and collector of the gangster Louis (Lenny Venito). He is assigned to kidnap Brian (Justin Bartha), the retarded brother of a federal prosecutor, for Louis blackmailing the prosecutor. Due to the importance of the 'mission', the lesbian Ricki (Jennifer Lopez) is sent by Louis to help Larry. The first point to highlight in this movie is a question: Why Al Pacino, Christopher Walker, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck accept such a cheesy and corny screenplay? The characters of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez are so ridiculous that spoil any story. Ben Affleck begins the movie as a tough guy, followed by a spoiled son, a romantic guy and ending like a good man. The delicious Jennifer Lopez begins lesbian (amazing, a director who gives the role of lesbian to one of the most sexy, delicious and beautiful women of the planet) and ends the story in love with Larry. Anyway, the beauty and the body of Jennifer Lopez make worthwhile a glance in this movie. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): 'Contrato de Risco' ('Contract of Risk')
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10/10
Sorry, but I can't agree with the majority
vacuity7 August 2003
I watched the movie and thought it was just a normal romantic comedy and just about of the quality of "Two Weeks Notice". I didn't find anything awful about it. It was entertaining. Maybe a bit too long for the story, but it kept me interested. I didn't find it boring, nor did I think the dialogs were worse than in many other movies that were released this year, e.g. let's say "Legally Blonde 2". If people expect a high-quality-script they should go rent "Schindler's List", but to slam a movie that's meant to entertain, is just uncalled for. I realize that many do not like Jennifer and Ben being a couple and being promoted a lot by the media. But it should be about the movie itself, and not about what the main characters are doing in real life with one another.

I really do not understand the whole propaganda against the movie. I'd advise everyone to just have a look for themselves staying open-minded still after having read a lot of awful reviews of people that just go with what the majority says and that only dislike the main actors.
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1/10
Don't do it. Just don't.
pyrocitor10 May 2016
You've probably seen your fair share of terrible, godawful cine-trash. You'd probably boast that you've guffawed your way through dreck like Jaws: The Revenge and Troll 2, and emerged, picking your teeth, demanding more. Maybe you've straight-faced your way through a conversation defending the 2015 Fantastic Four remake as a reflexive postmodern treatise on the autocannibalistic agony of commercial artistry without collapsing into hysterical, derisive laughter. You might jeer that you sit through an annual solo(!!) screening of The Room, seated on a throne of plastic spoons. You probably think you're invincible. And here you are, stumbling through the movie graveyard, preparing to test your mettle against The Big One. The Grandfather of Garbage, the Sultan of Cine-Sh*t. The man. The legend. Gigli.

Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.

'Ha', you sneer, defiantly hitting play on Netflix. Somewhere in the distance, you hear a faint skittering, as all nearby mice, birds, and insects flee in terror. 'This isn't so bad! I've already made it through the whole first scene of Ben Affleck's fourth-wall- breaking, excruciating Joiysey posturing and Big Hair with my wits intact. Gigli- schmeely!" Oh ho. Just you wait, friend. This is the mere foreplay before the true agony begins.

Now we venture into the land of Inquisitives. "What are they saying? I can't decipher the bogus-Jersey!" "What is happening? Who is that man, hunched over those sunflower seeds? Is that Justin Bartha, that lovable scamp from National Treasure and The Hangover? What's he doing? Is he...

...is that...supposed to be like Rain Man? Why is he rapping? Oh. Oh no. Oh no no."

Yes. But if this jaw-droppingly offensive depiction of an intellectual disability face-to-Big Hair with Affleck's mawkish gangster isn't already enough to make your eyes start to bleed, don't worry: you've yet to meet Jenny From The Block. She arrives, crop-topped, with a chorus of funk guitar fanfare, here to engage in glorious battle with Affleck and his Hair. A battle of the sexes, you say? Nay - they battle to see who can be the most embarrassing actor. And the battle is fierce. You think you've stomached flat, tone deaf, emotionally gyroscopic overacting before? Not like this. NOT. LIKE. THIS!

As they open their mouths, words tumble out. Words arranged so impenetrably ornately, so indefatigably nonsensical, so riotously wretched, that they extend beyond the screen like creeping Poltergeist claws, and vigorously disembowel any viewer despicable enough to be within reach. Over time, the words feed off the despair of their listeners, accruing more malevolent mass, and becoming monologues. Monologues, anointing Affleck his true title of the 'Sultan of Slick,' christening Lopez Queen 'Dykeosaurus-Rexy,' and, in a feat of Tarantino-theft that would defy belief if everything else in this movie hadn't already defied belief out of the dictionary, explaining the process of 'Digital Orb Extrusion' in Tai Moi Chai. At this point, logical thought is a distant whiff of a memory, scattered like grains of sand in the ocean of Affleck's Hair Product. You'd want to let out a silent scream. But Affleck and Lopez have stolen all the words. And all you can do is babble.

But lo! A bright star emerges! Here, we are visited by a kindly extraterrestrial from the Planet Walken. Concealing his fear behind his bug-eyed Cheshire cat grin, he attempts to approximate conventional human parlance to warn you of the dangers that ensue from prolonged exposure. But your brain has already eroded too much to decipher the coded messages hidden in his talk of ice cream and pie. Desperate, he croaks out a final warning of Gigli's most devastating side effect: "Your tongue will slap your BRAINS out trying to get TO it!" But it is too late. The final Brain Slap has begun.

You fester in your own sick in this purgatory of Gigli's apartment, slobbering and gibbering like a lobotomized bulldog, as the strains of inappropriately saccharine romantic synth music form a dubstep remix with the word "Baywatch," and jackhammer a gong in your cavernous skull. Here, the movie sinks in for the kill. You hear Bartha utter the phrase "penis sneeze," but you are numb. You see every other woman in the film reduced to a boorishly flirtatious or hysterical, whimsically suicidal lesbian caricature, but you are numb. Hell, you even sit through the final hallucinogenic indignity of Al Pacino(?!), clad in a Talking Heads oversized suit, actually trying (??!?!) to infuse some class or energy into the film.

But you are numb. Numb, because you have sat through two of the most stupefying monologues in cinema history. Behold: Ben Affleck's fist-pumping ode to the penis, and Jennifer Lopez's yogic aria to the vagina. With their powers combined, the film finally filibusters any remaining brain cells out of your head. 'He turns her straight, 1964 James Bond style?!' you would normally incredulously gripe. Normally. But by the time you reach the sanctuary of Baywatch, it's too late. Your motor functions have run their course; you are more vegetable than human now. The Brain Slap is complete.

If only you'd listened to Walken, emissary from a faraway galaxy. He would have warned you about Gigli - namely, that the effects of consumption approximate, in the words of the beloved Douglas Adams, "having your brains smashed in by a slice of lemon wrapped round a large gold brick." But there is no gold here. Only pain. Only suffering.

Now - if you had a chance of preventing this fate, dear viewer. If you could turn back time, and avoid drinking in this unfathomable chasm of universal offensiveness, this abominable void of oblivion. If you could save not only yourself, but the world as you know it. If you could take the hype not as a comedic, drunken challenge, but as a dire, chilling warning. Would you be, in the words of Walken, "InTERested?"

-1/10
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