Bimboland

Too bad Judit Godrèche's, Aure Atika's and Gérard Depardieu's great talent was wasted on this flick. It's bad! OK, there's beautiful woman in it, but it doesn't make it more easier to enjoy. Some parts of the film show potential, but it's not going further. Like if the director said: let's not try to make this an intelligent film about this one, let's just sell tickets for the screenings. Too bad!

I give it 65. That's good for *½ out of ****.

Seen at home, in Toronto, on September 9th, 2002.

I think it is one of the greatest chick flicks I've seen. The cast is absolutely great, Aure Atika is definitely a very talented comedian and other actors do a great job, too. The plot is Cinderella meets Sex and the city but with a few unexpected scenes and turns. The dialogues are witty. It is not boring and it can help you really look at your life from a new perspective since the characters are so imaginative and energetic. I tend to rewatch it every other year.

I have no idea why the rating is so bad. It is not as sexist as it is portrayed and the whole point of the film is that the character does what she does (I can't say what to avoid spoilers) to FIGHT sexism. It is very clear from the plot. And I don't see any other reasons other than the sexism problem that prevents it from having at least a 6 star rating. Anyway, I love it.

I did enjoy the film. However, Gerard Depardieu's character is an anthropologist whose main focus of study are the Maori of Aotearoa/New Zealand. Being from New Zealand, I have grown up with Maori culture. So it affected my appreciation of the film when the character shows a Maori tattoo which is blue. BLUE?!?! Blue is NOT the colour of a Maori Tattoo! And there is a scene where the character recreates a haka - - but in an extremely incorrect way. A Maori haka is a dance or war; it is meant to show strength, empower your warriors and scare the opposition. One doesn't run from side to side slapping oneself for no reason and throwing ones arms in the air like a monkey. It is offensive. Gah! Who did their research?! Bimboland does tell a good story. But please do some effective research, lest you alienate your international audience.

I can understand why this movie received such a low rating. Women will be offended by the blatant sexism in the film, and the plot is very shallow. The film is kind of like one of those old Love That Bob series with Robert Cummings. The slapstick situations that are, well, funny. However, being a normal male that likes to look at hot women, I enjoyed the film. It also reminded me of Superman, where Lois Lane loved Superman, she didn't like Clark Kent though. Gerard Depardieu doesn't like Judith Godreche as a brilliant research person with her hair up and wearing glasses, but when she dresses up like a Bimbo and acts like one--he loves her! Ok, so it wasn't one of those sophisticated deep films. Even though it probably deserves its low IMDB rating of 4, I'm ashamed to admit it--I liked it.