Gigli (2003)

A famous failure both critically and financially, 'Gigli' is by no means good, but not quite as bad as it's reputation suggests. I think a lot of piling on against Bennafer 1.0 was at play here, with the Razzies sweep and such. Still a very razzable movie, what wants to be a romantic comedy stuffed inside what wants to be a mob movie. Affleck and Lopez are tasked with watching the kidnapped mentally retarded brother of a federal judge as part of an ill conceived extortion scheme. It's a strange film, whose general uneventful plodding is periodically interrupted by odd monologs and  unexpected guest star appearances. Arguably explotive of the handicapped, it is also unintentionally a pioneering work of gender fluid cinema. If you can make it through a turgid first hour and a so-so 3rd quarter, you will be rewarded with a final 4th that goes from thoroughly unhinged to sappely sentimental. Dare say it, kind of worth seeing. *1/2