Charlie's Angels (film)

This article is about the 2000 film. For the 2003 sequel, see Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle.

Charlie's Angels
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	McG
Produced by	Drew Barrymore Leonard Goldberg Nancy Juvonen
Written by	Ryan Rowe Ed Solomon John August
Based on	Characters by: Ivan Goff Ben Roberts
Starring	Cameron Diaz Drew Barrymore Lucy Liu Matt LeBlanc Bill Murray Sam Rockwell Tim Curry Kelly Lynch Crispin Glover
Music by	Edward Shearmur
Cinematography	Russell Carpenter
Editing by	Wayne Wahrman Peter Teschner
Studio	Flower Films Tall Trees Productions
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	November 3, 2000 (2000-11-03)
Running time	98 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$75,000,000
Box office	$264,105,545

Charlie's Angels is a 2000 American action comedy film directed by McG, starring Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, and Lucy Liu as three women working for a private investigation agency. The film is based on the television series of the same name from the late 1970s, which was adapted by screenwriters Ryan Rowe, Ed Solomon, and John August.^[1]

The film, co-produced by Tall Trees Productions and Flower Films, distributed by Columbia Pictures, co-stars Bill Murray as Bosley, with John Forsythe reprising his role from the original TV series as the unseen Charlie's voice. Tim Curry and Sam Rockwell also co-star.

The film was followed with the 2003 sequel, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle.

Plot

Natalie Cook (Diaz), Dylan Sanders (Barrymore), and Alex Munday (Liu) are the "Angels," three talented, tough, attractive women who work as private investigators for an unseen millionaire named Charlie (voiced by Forsythe). Charlie uses a speaker in his offices to communicate with the Angels, and his assistant Bosley (Bill Murray) works with them directly when needed.

The Angels are assigned to find Eric Knox (Sam Rockwell), a software genius who created a revolutionary voice-recognition system and heads his own company, Knox Enterprises. Knox is believed to have been kidnapped by Roger Corwin (Tim Curry), who runs a communications-satellite company called Redstar. The Angels infiltrate a party held by Corwin and spot a "creepy thin man" (Crispin Glover) who was seen on the surveillance videos during Knox's kidnapping. They chase and fight the thin man, but he runs away. When they follow him, they discover Knox.

After the Angels reunite Knox with his business partner Vivian Wood (Kelly Lynch), Charlie explains that they must determine whether the thin man has stolen Knox's voice-recognition software. The Angels infiltrate Redstar headquarters, fool the security system, and plant a device in the central computer that will enable them to explore it remotely. They retire for the night after giving Bosley the laptop computer that communicates with the Redstar computer. Dylan takes up Knox's offer to spend the night with him, but he betrays her later that night, explaining that he faked the kidnapping with help from Vivian and the thin man. He has kidnapped Bosley, and, with access to Redstar's central computer, he intends to use his voice software with the Redstar satellite network to find and kill Charlie, who he believes killed his father in the Vietnam War.

Knox shoots at Dylan, apparently killing her, but she escapes unharmed. Natalie and Alex are also attacked, and Corwin is murdered by the thin man. When the Angels regroup, Charlie's offices are blown up, but a radio receiver survives in the rubble, and the Angels deduce Bosley's location as he speaks to them using a radio transmitter implanted in his teeth.

With help from Dylan's current boyfriend Chad (Tom Green), the Angels approach the abandoned lighthouse where Knox is holding Bosley prisoner. The Angels rescue Bosley and defeat Vivian, the thin man, and some henchmen before Knox blows up the lighthouse, but Knox uses his software and the Redstar satellite network to locate Charlie when he telephones Bosley. When Knox escapes in a helicopter armed with a missile, Bosley helps the Angels board the helicopter, and Alex reprograms the missile, which blows up the helicopter and kills Knox while the Angels land safely in the ocean. Seeing the opportunity to finally meet Charlie in person, the Angels enter the beach house that Knox targeted, but Charlie has already left. He remotely congratulates them on a job well done, and treats them and Bosley to a vacation. When Charlie speaks to the Angels by telephone on the beach, unseen by most of the group, Dylan suspects that she sees him nearby talking into a cell phone.

Cast

• Cameron Diaz as Natalie Cook
• Drew Barrymore as Dylan Sanders
• Lucy Liu as Alex Munday
• Bill Murray as Bosley
• Sam Rockwell as Eric Knox
• Tim Curry as Roger Corwin
• Kelly Lynch as Vivian Wood
• Crispin Glover as the Thin Man
• Matt LeBlanc as Jason Gibbons
• LL Cool J as Mr. Jones
• Tom Green as Chad
• Luke Wilson as Pete Komisky
• John Forsythe as Charlie [Voice]
• Mike Smith as Knox Thug
• Sean Whalen as Pasqual
• Alex Trebek as Himself
• Karen McDougal as Roger Corwin's girlfriend

One of the most widely reproduced publicity images from Charlie's Angels features (L to R) Lucy Liu, Cameron Diaz, and Drew Barrymore in defensive posture as they prepare to subdue the Thin Man.

Soundtrack

Released October 24, 2000.^[2]

1. "Independent Women (Part I)" by Destiny's Child
2. "Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel" by The Tavares
3. "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" by Leo Sayer
4. "True" by Spandau Ballet
5. "Dot" by Destiny's Child
6. "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix-A-Lot
7. "Angel's Eye" by Aerosmith
8. "Barracuda" by Heart
9. "Turning Japanese" by The Vapors
10. "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)" by Looking Glass
11. "Got to Give It Up (Part 1)" by Marvin Gaye
12. "Ya Mama" by Fatboy Slim
13. "Groove Is in the Heart" by Deee-Lite
14. "Charlie's Angels 2000" by Apollo 440
15. "Tangerine Speedo" by Caviar

Other songs used in the film

• "Blind" by Korn
• "Live Wire" by Mötley Crüe
• "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" by Wham!
• "Money (That's What I Want)" by The Flying Lizards
• "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
• "Angel of the Morning" by Juice Newton
• "Undercover Angel" by Alan O'Day
• "Principles of Lust" by Enigma
• "Twiggy Twiggy" by Pizzicato Five
• "Sukiyaki" by Kyu Sakamoto
• "Zendeko Hachijo" by Zenshuji Zendeko
• "Smack My Bitch Up" by The Prodigy
• "Another Town" by Transister
• "Belly" by Nomad
• "When Angels Yodel" written and arranged by Frank Marocco
• "The Humpty Dance" by Digital Underground
• "Miami Vice Theme" by Jan Hammer
• "Simon Says" by Pharoahe Monch
• "Leave You Far Behind" by Lunatic Calm
• "Skullsplitter" by Henodize
• "Song 2" by Blur
• "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson
• "Angel" by Rod Stewart
• "All the Small Things" by Blink-182
• "Thunder Kiss '65" by White Zombie

Reception

Charlie's Angels received mixed to positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 67% "Fresh" rating based on 141 reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from film critics, it has a rating score of 52, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

References

1. ^ New York Times
2. ^ IMDb

External links

• Charlie's Angels (film) at the Internet Movie Database
• Charlie's Angels (film) at AllRovi
• Charlie's Angels (film) at the TCM Movie Database
• Charlie's Angels (film) at Box Office Mojo
• Charlie's Angels (film) at Rotten Tomatoes