# Gigli
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gigli/289861
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [February 13, 2005, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gigli/289861 "2005-02-13T10:37:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2005, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gigli/289861/1 "2005-02-13T10:37:20Z")
Being contrary by nature and doubting the movie could be as bad as what everyone had made it out to be, I put \*Gigli \*on my Netflix queue a couple months ago and finally got around to seeing it today and having just finished it a couple minutes ago, I have to say, it’s really not all that bad.
Sure, the dialogue is pretty atrocious in parts; the characterization, when there is any, is pretty spotty; and the acting caused me to wince a couple times but, overall, I don’t think it’s much worse than most of the other typical Hollywood fare and, as I suspected, most of its criticism was based largely on it being a Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck vehicle.
With that being said, the “Gobble, gobble” scene \*was \*as bad as everyone said it was and there was another line, about fifteen minutes before that that was awe inspiring in its bizarreness: Brian, the boy that Affleck and Lopez had kidnapped, was sitting in the car watching Ricki (Lopez) talk to her girlfriend and then told Gigli (Affleck) that they “make [his] pee sneeze”. I wasn’t sure I heard him right and was replaying the line in my mind when just a moment or two later, he stared down at his crotch and said “God bless you”.
\*Completely \*stupid but yet I laughed. Hard. And then I rewatched it and laughed again.
This movie is by no means the next _Casablanca_ (or even the next _Showgirls_ if that’s your thing) but if you don’t mind shutting off your mind for a couple hours and aren’t repulsed by the idea of Lopez or Affleck on your TV, there are worse ways to kill time.
Like, say, _Van Wilder_.
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### Author:  [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2005, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gigli/289861/2 "2005-02-13T14:58:14Z")
Did you mean _Van Helsing?_
'Cause that was atrotious.
Continue taking the bullet for us, **[Aes**!
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### Author:  [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2005, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gigli/289861/3 "2005-02-13T19:12:35Z")
While I am sure \*Helsing \*was atrocious, I doubt it can compare to the war crime that was _Wilder_.
Kate Beckinsale does make my pee sneeze though.
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### Author:  [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2005, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gigli/289861/4 "2005-02-14T01:26:19Z")
From the Favorites [That Everybody Else Hates](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=296525) thread:
> [@Hal Briston](#):
>
> Maybe it was because of extremely lowered expectations, but I didn’t think **Gigli** was a bad flick. A few ridiculous scenes, but no more so than in other Hollywood films.
From the [Movies that, apparently, you were the only person to like](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=4879796) thread:
> [@Hal Briston](#):
>
> Probably the most deserving of the “Oh Give Me A Frickin’ Break, You Pompous, Self-Important Ass Of A Critic” Award: _ **Gigli** _.
>
> It got **savaged** by critics.
> The Razzie guys had a field day.
> People started declaring it “Worse than **Battlefield Earth** ”, without seeing either movie.
>
> It’s been voted the [15th worst film ever](http://us.imdb.com/bottom_100_films) on the IMDB. That’s better than **Jaws: The Revenge** , **Cool As Ice** or **Baby Geniuses**. Hell, that’s one spot better than **The Giant Spider Invasion** , fer crissakes!
>
> It. Simply. Wasn’t. **That**. Bad.
>
> Much of it was well written. The cameos by Pachino and Walken were terrific. The acting was reasonably well done. Would I put it in my top 10? Hell no…but it’s not in my bottom 10 either.
>
> Yes, it was very flawed. Yes, there were some plot holes so big you might be able to squeeze Affleck’s ego through them (just how _was_ Gigli able to listen to a conversation taking place 200 yards away from him, anyway?). Hell with all that – I liked it, I admit it, bite me. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Menocchio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Menocchio)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2005, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gigli/289861/5 "2005-02-14T03:42:04Z")
I saw Gigli. I thought, no way it’s as bad as everyone says. It’s just people being sick of the whole Bennifer thing.
It was that bad. It wasn’t just the Bennifer thing, which I never cared about one way or the other. The situation was horrible, the dialogue atrocious, and it tried to be both a gritty crime drama and a screwball comedy, and failed misreably at both.
When we came to Pacino’s scene, the DVD totally conked out. Wouldn’t play more than five seconds at a time for more than five minutes. To this day, I believe that the sheer awfulness of he movie, inspired my DVD player to develop sentience, and then try to re-edit the fim in order to preserve its own infant electronic sanity. Such is the power of the awfulness of the movie. Alas, to no avail. The film went back on track. The new life snuffed out by the very horror that created it, and I wasn’t spared to see the end of the movie.
It’s just that bad.
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### Author:  [@Gadfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadfly)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2005, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gigli/289861/6 "2005-02-14T03:52:31Z")
It’s a movie even a great Walken cameo couldn’t save for me.
It just is that bad.
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### Author:  [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2005, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gigli/289861/7 "2005-02-14T06:13:37Z")
I watched “Gigli” for the same “can it possibly be as bad as all _that_?” reason. Sure there are a lot worse movies. (The speech that Jennifer Lopez makes to the “tough kids” about her martial arts abilities to poke out someone’s eyes was very anemic.)
The Al Pacino scene in which he portrays a crime boss who is definitely totally unwilling to go to jail is a real surprise. (I never even knew he was in the movie).
Personally, I think this movie was pre-ordained to get completely destroyed because people in general (and especially critics) like to see people fail. Even if this movie were the equal of “Citizen Kane”, it would have failed.
Thinking back about 40 years, remember how Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton were _the_ “darlings” of Hollywood? Then as “Cleopatra” was being filmed, rumors surfaced about the high budget and how it was going to be a disaster. I think people were waiting for _any_ chance to see Liz and Dick fail. The same applies to Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.
What did Don Henley sing? “People love it when you lose, they love dirty laundry”.
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### Author:  [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2005, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gigli/289861/8 "2005-02-14T06:46:08Z")
> [@Aesiron](#):
>
> With that being said, the “Gobble, gobble” scene \*was \*as bad as everyone said it was
Was that the scene where J.Lo was doing gymnastic stretches on a mat while extolling the virtues of “my pussy”?
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### Author:  [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2005, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gigli/289861/9 "2005-02-14T07:15:34Z")
Shortly afterwards, yeah. The whole argument her and Affleck had about the virtues of the penis versus those of the vagina was what I was thinking of when I said the dialogue was atrocious in parts.
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### Author:  [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2005, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gigli/289861/10 "2005-02-14T07:34:34Z")
> [@Aesiron](#):
>
> Like, say, _Van Wilder_.
You’ve never even seen it! There are so not enough :rolleyes: for you right now. 😛
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### Author:  [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2005, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gigli/289861/11 "2005-02-14T09:11:18Z")
Two good scenes:
Christopher Walken cameo.
Al Pacino cameo.
Otherwise a complete waste of time.
Mrs. Six and I saw it last year in the theater. We hadn’t been warned.
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### Author:  [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2005, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gigli/289861/12 "2005-02-14T09:12:45Z")
D’oh. Two years ago in the theater. The memory burns so bright it seems like last year.