Anna is a baby dyke who's getting over a nasty break up. She meets Sadie, a feminist activist who runs C(I)A- Clits In Action. They do mostly guerrilla art, some laws broken in the process. Their main point is that men control society and they want that shit to stop. I think it's taken a little far. Anna joins C(I)A because Sadie's hot, she meets the others who begin to warm up to her, at the same time kinda starting something with Sadie, who has an older girlfriend, Courtney. Turns out, Sadie's a tramp and cheats on her girlfriend all the time. Well, things go to shit, the C(I)A disbands over Anna and Sadie's drama and then Anna gets them all together again for a huge, intricate project (without Sadie's help) which goes off without a hitch. Sadie breaks up with Courtney, Anna and Sadie end up together, we have a quick montage telling us where all the girls are now and how happy they are. The end.
Before I begin my rant, I must inform you that what I liked, I really really liked, but the parts I didn't like, I loathed. I loved the music, the dancing scenes, the camera work and style, and all the characters except for Sadie and Anna. If the movie had no Sadie and less Anna, I think I would have really enjoyed the movie. I found myself smiling and laughing at the parts where it's just the girls of the C(I)A interacting and having fun- the energy is high and its hard not to get caught up. But then the drama begins and I lost interest.
As a side note, I noticed that every lesbian in the movie had killer cheekbones. Is this a requirement for dykedom I missed out on? Because it actually holds pretty true in real life, too.
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| Look at those cheekbones. |
I've gone all this time and haven't told you why I'm so confused. Here it is: Are we supposed to like Anna and Sadie as a couple? Are we supposed to like them at all? It appears the filmmakers think so, because they had them as a couple at the end of the movie. Their romance is played up in a "Aww look at the happy couple way" but I can't stop thinking "Look at the cheating bitch and her naive idiot." I wish the movie had ended with Anna saying, "No, no we're not going to be friends with benefits or girlfriends. I need to be single, figure out that I don't want to date cheating whores." It would have been a positive step forward for her, and an interesting way of showing her growth as a character. Instead, she stays as childish throughout the movie as she was at the beginning- her forms of childishness change, sure, but she doesn't really mature or grow in any way. Yet, repeatedly, we hear other (much more mature and well-liked characters) tell her how great a person she is. She's not. Anna remains a selfish, whiny child.
You could argue that this is just supposed to be a fluff movie, but if so, the filmmakers did a terrible job. The supporting characters and some of the themes (self-discovery, the importance of activism) are serious, and handled in a serious manner, but the drama is silly and the protagonists are even sillier. If it's meant to be a love story, it fails at that too. I hate the lovers and I want them to be single, whether out of spite, or because it would be a nice recognition that you can grow as a person without a chick on your arm. Maybe it would work better as a friend story, and on many levels it functions as one, but not just quite. It's under the comedy section, but it's not all that funny, and it isn't filmed like a comedy. "Clerks" wasn't either, but it was hilarious so it got away with it. I just kept wondering what the filmmakers were trying to do- and it seems like they were, too.
So in the end, the movie's worth watching for all the non-Anna and Sadie parts, but then, only barely.
Also, watching the movie inspired me to rant about something else, so that will probably be up in a few days.
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