Charlie's Angels | |
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Directed by | McG |
Written by |
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Based on | |
Produced by | |
Starring |
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Cinematography | Russell Carpenter |
Edited by |
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Music by | Edward Shearmur |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | Sony Pictures Releasing |
Release dates |
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Running time | 98 minutes [1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $93 million [2] |
Box office | $264.1 million [2] |
Charlie's Angels is a 2000 American action comedy film directed by McG in his feature film directorial debut, and written by Ryan Rowe, Ed Solomon, and John August. It is the first film in the Charlie's Angels trilogy, a continuation of the television series of the same name created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts, which is also a continuation of the series story. Unlike the original series, which had dramatic elements, the film features more comic elements.
The movie stars Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, and Lucy Liu as three women working in a private detective agency in Los Angeles. John Forsythe reprised his role as the unseen Charlie's voice from the original series. Bill Murray also stars as John Bosley, replacing David Doyle who played the role in the original series. It also stars Sam Rockwell, Tim Curry and Kelly Lynch while Crispin Glover, Matt LeBlanc, Luke Wilson and Tom Green appear in supporting roles.
The film was released on November 3, 2000, in the United States by Sony Pictures Releasing under its Columbia Pictures label, and has grossed $264.1 million worldwide. The film received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics, with praise for the performances of Diaz, Barrymore, Liu and Murray as well as its action sequences and humor, but criticisms aimed at the plot and "lack of originality". [3]
Natalie Cook, Dylan Sanders, and Alex Munday are the "Angels", three women who work as private investigators together for unseen millionaire Charlie Townsend. Charlie uses speakers in his offices to communicate with the Angels, and his assistant Bosley works with them directly when needed.
Charlie assigns the Angels to find Eric Knox, a software genius who created a revolutionary voice-recognition system and heads his own company, Knox Enterprises. He is believed to have been kidnapped by Roger Corwin, who runs the communications-satellite company Redstar.
The Angels infiltrate a party held by Corwin, spotting a suspicious-looking man that they had previously seen from surveillance videos of Knox's kidnapping. Dubbing him the "Thin Man", the Angels chase him down and fight him; he gets away, but the Angels find Knox, safely tied up nearby.
After the Angels reunite Knox with his business partner Vivian Wood, 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 to 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, and they end up having sex. Afterwards, he betrays her; simultaneously, attacks are made on Natalie and Alex, Bosley is captured by Vivian, and Corwin is murdered by the Thin Man. Knox tells Dylan his kidnapping was faked to get the Angels to help him access the Redstar satellite network. He plans to use it along with his voice recognition software to find and kill Charlie, who Knox asserts killed his father in the Vietnam War.
Dylan escapes and reunites with Natalie and Alex, who also survived their attacks. They approach Charlie's office just as the building explodes. They find a radio receiver that Bosley is able to communicate through via a tooth implanted radio transmitter. He provides enough information of where he is being held captive to allow Natalie to deduce his location, an abandoned lighthouse. With help from Dylan's friend Chad, the Angels stealthily approach by boat. Upon finding Knox, Dylan is captured by his henchmen, tied up and gagged.
The Angels are too late to stop Knox from determining Charlie's location, though they rescue Bosley while Dylan fights off her captors. They come together to defeat Vivian, the Thin Man, and other assorted henchmen, but Knox blows up the lighthouse and flies off in an attack helicopter towards Charlie's house. Bosley helps the Angels board it, where Alex reprograms the missile to have it shoot backwards; blowing up the helicopter and killing Knox while the Angels land safely.
Seeing the opportunity to finally meet Charlie in person, the Angels enter the nearby beach house that Knox had targeted, but he has already left. He remotely congratulates them on a job well done through another speaker, and treats them and Bosley to a vacation. Charlie also tells them that Knox's father was an undercover double agent; he was discovered and killed by the enemy, but not by him.
When he speaks to the Angels by telephone on the beach, they ask if they could ever meet him in person. Dylan suspects she sees him nearby talking into a cell phone, but does not tell the group; opting to raise a toast to Charlie instead. Bosley playfully douses the Angels with his drink, and they chase him towards the ocean. From afar, a silhouetted Charlie watches them and walks off.
According to Thandiwe Newton, she was the original choice for Alex Munday, but declined as she did not want to be "objectified" or play racial stereotypes. The role ultimately went to Lucy Liu. [4] McG would later say that Bill Murray headbutted him while filming. [5] Murray would later denied this calling it "bullshit". [6]
The film opened on November 3, 2000, earning $13.7 million in its opening day, debuting at the top of the box office. For its first weekend, the film grossed $40.1 million, dethroning Meet the Parents , which had stayed at number-one for four weeks. [7] Eventually, Charlie's Angels grossed a total of $125,305,545 domestically.
Against a budget of $93 million, Charlie's Angels grossed $125.3 million in North America and $148.8 million in other territories, for a worldwide gross of $264.1 million, making it the 12th highest-grossing film of 2000. [2]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 68% approval rating based on 146 reviews, with an average rating of 6.20/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Mixing tongue-in-cheek cheesecake with glossy action set pieces, Charlie's Angels is slick and reasonably fun despite its lack of originality". [8] On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score, it has a score of 52 out of 100 based on reviews from 34 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [3]
David Edelstein for Slate, wrote, despite expecting to hate the film, he found he loved it, calling it "a charming, hyper-energetic, and wittily self-aware action comedy about gorgeous girls". [9] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B grade, with particular praise for Cameron Diaz's performance, saying "not just an Angel – that's a star". [10] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone called the film a "guilty pleasure" and praised the wire work and fight choreography of Cheung-Yan Yuen. Travers was critical of the thin plot but said it is "the film's quirky sense of mischief, which sets it apart" from lesser television to film adaptations. [11] Desson Howe of The Washington Post said "the gals are fab. And so's the movie". He expressed mild disappointment at the men, commenting that Murray is funnier than the role written for him, and that even though Tom Green "does his weirdest best" he is only mildly amusing. [12] In Variety , Todd McCarthy wrote of Diaz' performance, "Rarely has a performer conveyed the impression of being so happy to be in a particular movie." [13]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times called it "a movie without a brain. Charlie's Angels is like the trailer for a video game movie, lacking only the video game, and the movie" and gave it half a star out of a possible 4 stars. [14] Manohla Dargis wrote: "Of course, it's terrible – but did it have to be this bad?" [15] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle called it "an utter debacle" and said the film "makes the show look like the height of creativity, imagination and restraint". LaSalle blames director McG comparing the film to a trailer or music video. He was also critical of the deliberate decision to make the three women very similar, and says "the Angels' goofiness is a big disappointment, second only to the shocking ineptitude of McG". [16]
During the making of Blade II , Guillermo del Toro commented that while films like Charlie's Angels had helped to popularize the wire fu style of fighting choreography in Western films, they also served as a "nail in the coffin" and prompted many filmmakers to want to get back to more "hard-hitting" action. [17] In his commentary: "The moment you see Cameron Diaz flying in the air, and you know that she is incapable of flying in the air and kicking five guys... you realize that it is done using wires. [...] I mean, Charlie's Angels was great, but it[s fighting style] was almost satirical". [17]
Charlie's Angels was released on both VHS and DVD on March 27, 2001 and on Blu-ray on August 3, 2010. [18] A two-disc Superbit Deluxe DVD release premiered on May 27, 2003, coinciding with the release of its successor Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle . [19] It was then released on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on October 22, 2019. [20]
Charlie's Angels is the soundtrack album from the film of the same name. The album was released on October 24, 2000, by Columbia Records, Hollywood Records and Sony Music Soundtrax. [21]
Charlie's Angels | ||||
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Soundtrack album by Various artists | ||||
Released | October 24, 2000 | |||
Length | 58:22 | |||
Label | ||||
Charlie's Angels soundtracks chronology | ||||
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Singles from Charlie's Angels | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [23] |
Chart (2000) | Position |
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Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan) [24] | 58 |
Chart (2001) | Position |
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Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan) [25] | 165 |
Canadian R&B Albums (Nielsen SoundScan) [26] | 36 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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Australia (ARIA) [27] | Platinum | 70,000^ |
New Zealand (RMNZ) [28] | Platinum | 15,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [29] | Silver | 60,000* |
United States (RIAA) [30] | 2× Platinum | 1,660,000 [31] |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
A sequel called Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle released in 2003. Diaz, Barrymore and Liu reprised their roles, as did John Forsythe as the voice of Charlie in his last film role. Following Murray's departure from the franchise, Bernie Mac joined the cast as Jimmy Bosley, John's adoptive brother, while Demi Moore had a major role, and Jaclyn Smith reprised her role as Kelly Garrett from the original television series. The franchise was confirmed for a third and fourth film, but in 2004, the ideas were cancelled.
In 2015, Sony began development on a new Charlie's Angels installment. Elizabeth Banks directed and produced the film with her producing partner and husband Max Handelman. [32] [33] Initially developed as a reboot of the franchise, the film is a continuation of the original TV series and the McG-directed 2000s films. [34]
The 2019 follow-up film starred Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott and Ella Balinska as the new generation of Angels. Banks and Djimon Hounsou also starred as Charlie's assistants, known as Bosleys, while Patrick Stewart replaced Murray in the role of John Bosley. Jaclyn Smith reprised her role as Kelly Garrett for the second time for a cameo appearance. It was also the first installment to feature Robert Clotworthy as the voice of Charlie, replacing Forsythe following his death in 2010.
Year | Award | Category | Recipients | Results | Ref. |
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2001 | Stinkers Bad Movie Awards | Worst Picture | Charlie's Angels (Columbia) | Dishonourable Mention | [35] |
Worst Supporting Actor | Tom Green | Won | |||
Worst On-Screen Group | The Angels | Nominated | |||
Worst Song or Song Performance Featured in a Film or Its End Credits | "Independent Women, Part 1" by Destiny's Child | Nominated | |||
Worst Resurrection of a TV Show | Charlie's Angels (Columbia) | Nominated | |||
Most Unfunny Comic Relief | Tom Green | Won | |||
Drew Blythe Barrymore is an American actress, producer, talk show host, author and businesswoman. A member of the Barrymore family of actors, she has received several awards and nominations, including a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to nominations for nine Emmy Awards and a British Academy Film Award. Barrymore received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2004. She was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time in 2023.
Cameron Michelle Diaz is an American actress. Known for her work in both comedy and drama, her films have grossed over $3 billion in the U.S. box-office. Diaz established herself as a sex symbol and one of Hollywood's most bankable stars, and in 2013 she was named the highest-paid actress over 40. She has received various accolades, including nominations for a BAFTA Award and four Golden Globe Awards.
Charlie's Angels is an American crime drama television series that aired on ABC from September 22, 1976, to June 24, 1981, airing for five seasons consisting of 115 episodes. It was created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts and was produced by Spelling-Goldberg Productions. The show follows the crime-fighting adventures of three women working at a private detective agency in Los Angeles, California, and originally starred Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, and Jaclyn Smith in the leading roles and John Forsythe providing the voice of their boss, the unseen Charlie Townsend, who directed the crime-fighting operations of the "Angels" over a speakerphone. There were a few casting changes: after the departure of Fawcett, Cheryl Ladd joined; after Jackson departed, Shelley Hack joined, and she was subsequently replaced by Tanya Roberts.
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle is a 2003 American action comedy film directed by McG and written by John August, and Cormac and Marianne Wibberley. It is the sequel to 2000's Charlie's Angels and the second film in the Charlie's Angels trilogy, which is a continuation of the story that began with the television series of the same name by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts.
John Forsythe was an American stage, film/television actor, producer, narrator, drama teacher and philanthropist whose career spanned six decades. He also appeared as a guest on several talk and variety shows and as a panelist on numerous game shows.
Crispin Hellion Glover is an American actor, filmmaker and artist. He is known for portraying eccentric character roles on screen. His breakout role was as George McFly in Back to the Future (1985), which he followed by playing Layne, one of the leading roles in River's Edge (1986). Through the 1990s, Glover garnered attention for portraying smaller but notable roles, including Cousin Del in Wild at Heart (1990), Andy Warhol in The Doors (1991), Bobby McBurney in What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993) and the Train Fireman in Dead Man (1995).
Luke Cunningham Wilson is an American actor. He is known for his roles in films such as Bottle Rocket (1996), Blue Streak (1999), My Dog Skip (2000), Legally Blonde (2001), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Old School (2003), My Super Ex-Girlfriend (2006), Idiocracy (2006), You Kill Me (2007), The Skeleton Twins (2014), Meadowland (2015) and Brad's Status (2017). On television, he played Casey Kelso on That '70s Show (2002–2005), Levi Callow on Enlightened (2011–2013) and Pat Dugan / S.T.R.I.P.E. on Stargirl (2020–2022). He is the younger brother of actors Andrew Wilson and Owen Wilson.
Jaclyn Smith is an American actress. She is most notable for her role as Kelly Garrett in the television series Charlie's Angels (1976–1981), and was the only original female lead to remain with the series for its complete run. She reprised the role with cameo appearances in the films Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003) and Charlie's Angels (2019). Her other films include Nightkill (1980) and Déjà Vu (1985). Beginning in the 1980s, she began developing and marketing her own brands of clothing and perfume.
Cheryl Ladd is an American actress, singer, and author best known for her role as Kris Munroe in the ABC television series Charlie's Angels, whose cast she joined in its second season in 1977 to replace Farrah Fawcett-Majors. Ladd remained on the show until its cancellation in 1981. Her film roles include Purple Hearts (1984), Millennium (1989), Poison Ivy (1992), Permanent Midnight (1998), and Unforgettable (2017).
G.I. Blues is a 1960 American musical comedy film directed by Norman Taurog and starring Elvis Presley and Juliet Prowse. The movie – Presley’s fifth, but his first after discharge from the US Army – was filmed at Paramount Pictures studio, with some pre-production scenery shot on location in West Germany while Presley was stationed there. The movie won a 2nd place Laurel Award in the category of Top Musical of 1960.
Charles Wayne Sexton is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Sexton is best known for his years as a guitarist in Bob Dylan's band, though also has become well known as a music producer. Sexton co-founded Arc Angels and created the Charlie Sexton Sextet. He was still a teenager when he gained fame for his 1985 hit, "Beat's So Lonely", from his debut album, Pictures for Pleasure.
Charlie's Angels is a 2003 beat 'em up video game developed by Neko Entertainment and published by Ubi Soft for the PlayStation 2 and GameCube.
John Bosley is a fictional character from the Charlie's Angels franchise. He was originally introduced in the 1976–1981 television series, portrayed by David Doyle. Along with Kelly Garrett, Bosley is the only character to take part in every episode of the show's five-year run.
Michael Thomas Green is a Canadian and American comedian, show host, actor, filmmaker, podcaster, and rapper. After pursuing stand-up comedy and music as a young adult, Green created and hosted The Tom Green Show, which aired on Canadian television and later on MTV between 1994 and 2000. The show became popular for its shock comedy, absurd pranks and Green's manic persona, and influenced later series such as Jackass and The Eric Andre Show. Green has also appeared in the Hollywood films Road Trip (2000), Charlie's Angels (2000), Stealing Harvard (2002), and Shred (2008). Green additionally directed, co-wrote and starred in the cult film Freddy Got Fingered (2001). He was briefly married to actress Drew Barrymore (2001–2002), who co-starred with him in Charlie's Angels and Freddy Got Fingered.
Drew Barrymore is an American actress and producer. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award, as well as seven Emmy Award nominations and a BAFTA nomination. She achieved fame as a child actress with her role in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Following a highly publicized childhood marked by drug and alcohol abuse, she released an autobiography Little Girl Lost. She appeared in several successful films, such as Charlie's Angels, Never Been Kissed, Poison Ivy, Boys on the Side, Mad Love, Batman Forever, Scream and Ever After. She starred with Adam Sandler in the films, The Wedding Singer, 50 First Dates and Blended. Other films included Firestarter, Never Been Kissed, Donnie Darko, Riding in Cars with Boys, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, Fever Pitch, Music and Lyrics, Going the Distance, Big Miracle, and Miss You Already. She also starred in her directorial debut film Whip It. She won a SAG Award and a Golden Globe for her role in Grey Gardens. She starred in the Netflix series Santa Clarita Diet and currently hosts the syndicated talk show The Drew Barrymore Show.
Charlie's Angels is a 2019 American action comedy film written and directed by Elizabeth Banks from a story by Evan Spiliotopoulos and David Auburn. It stars Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott, and Ella Balinska as the new generation of Angels who are working for a private detective agency named the Townsend Agency. The film is the third installment in the Charlie's Angels film series and serves as a continuation of the story that began with the television series of the same name by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts, and the two previous theatrical films, Charlie's Angels (2000) and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003).
Ella Balinska is an English actress who starred in the action-comedy film Charlie's Angels (2019) and the Netflix original series Resident Evil (2022).
Charlie's Angels is an American media franchise created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts and owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, which began with the original television series of the same name. The franchise follows the adventures of the Angels, a team of women working for the Townsend Agency, a private secret agent agency, under the leadership of Charlie Townsend, their unseen boss.