The World Is Not Enough opens on an unusually powerful note. A stunning pre-title sequence reaches beyond mere pyrotechnics to introduce key plot elements as the action leaps from Bilbao to London. Bond 5.0, Pierce Brosnan, undercuts his usually suave persona with a darker, more brutal edge largely absent since Sean Connery departed.
Blaxploitation movies deserve a good spoofing, and Undercover Brother tweaks the subgenre with a few good laughs. But what might have been an Afro-centric Austin Powers (adapted by John Ridley from his Internet film series) is instead a lackluster comedy with one basic joke: "Whitey"--personified as a faceless corporate despot known as "the Man"--has the power, but black folks have soul. With enough funk to make Shaft look passZ, Eddie Griffin plays "U.B." with an oversized 'fro and a firm grasp of comedic possibilities. He's recruited by the B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D.
With no fewer than eight couples vying for our attention, Love Actually is like the Boston Marathon of romantic comedies, and everybody wins. Having mastered the genre as the writer of Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, and Bridget Jones's Diary, it appears that first-time director Richard Curtis is just like his screenplays: He just wants to be loved, and he'll go to absurdly appealing lengths to win our affection.
