Boxoffice-September.1997
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REVIEWS<br />
Navy's elite Seals. Scenes of her training<br />
climb the ropes, crawl the ground—are just<br />
what audiences might expect, if higher than<br />
usual on the machismo level; so is the reaction<br />
of her male mates, as evidenced by her<br />
tough boot-camp commandant (Viggo<br />
Mortensen). Yet it's not till the narrative<br />
takes an odd byway—the unstoppable<br />
O'Neil suddenly folds when phony charges<br />
of fraternization with non-elisted women<br />
(i.e., lesbian activity) arise, and the<br />
senator's supposedly true nature is revealed—that<br />
"G.I. Jane" becomes just plain<br />
bad; both the senator's and O'Neil's decisions<br />
come out of nowhere.<br />
Fortunately, the narrative resuscitates<br />
when O'Neil goes on her first mission in a<br />
finale that would have been even more rousing<br />
had it been more believable (the body<br />
counts on the two warring sides is hardly<br />
balanced, with the "bad" guys—Arabs, of<br />
course—apparently unable to shoot straight<br />
even at close range). Still, what gives this<br />
Caravan/Scott Free/Moving Pictures production<br />
its power for contemporary audiences<br />
is its straight-from-the-headlines<br />
attentions to the question of women in the<br />
military, and on this Scott & co. are right on<br />
target. Kim Williamson<br />
DEF JAM'S HOW TO<br />
BE A PLAYER ^^1/2<br />
Starring Bill Bellamy, Natalie Desselle,<br />
Mari Morrow and Pierre. Directed by Lionel<br />
C. Martin. Written by Mark Brown<br />
and Deetria Johnson. Produced by Mark<br />
Burg, Todd Baker, Russell Simmons,<br />
Preston Holmes and Stan Lathan. A Gramercy<br />
release. Comedy. RatedRfor strong<br />
sexual content and language.<br />
In a time in which monogamy is used as<br />
a spelling bee word, "Def Jam's How to Be<br />
a Player" isn't going to have a lot of people<br />
openly praising the<br />
movie in mixed company.<br />
A person just saying he liked it could<br />
be enough to spark agitated discussions: The<br />
title refers to someone who has one main<br />
mate and yet intimately sociaUzes with several<br />
others; a Player knows when to say the<br />
right things and when to bluff. For date-night<br />
moviegoers, one of the film's target demos,<br />
the best strategy might be to cheer for the<br />
same gender as one's companion.<br />
Sensitized because she was dropped like<br />
a bad habit by her boyfriend, Jenny<br />
("B.A.P.S."' Natalie Desselle) targets her<br />
brother Dray (Bill Bellamy, best known<br />
from cable's "MTV Jams"), who she feels is<br />
a womanizer who treats his women like<br />
whores. She concocts a scheme to put a kink<br />
in his game(plan). With the help of her friend<br />
Katrina ("Virtuosity's" Man Morrow), she<br />
cracks his organizer's access code and proceeds<br />
to invite Dray's multiracial collection<br />
of femmes to the same party, with the aim<br />
of creating a hostile environment that will<br />
make this Player repent and be reborn.<br />
Ballamy plays Dray in<br />
a way that isn't<br />
likely to seem overly offensive, thanks to<br />
knowing nods to the audience. A supporting<br />
cast humorously blend in their characters to<br />
make the tale's multiple scenarios flow. One<br />
who perpetrates Playerism (Pierre) and two<br />
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