Saw this fabulous film in Washington, D.C. where it won Best Comedy at the ThrillSpy International Film Festival and laughed myself silly. Unlike most films of this genre it has a plausible plot and I was riveted to the screen watching it unfold.
The leading ladies are women who appear to think that looking good is more important than what they do and what is that you ask? By day they are gorgeous super-models and by night they are would you believe. . . brutal bounty hunters! One minute they're basking in the sun sipping cocktails, in bikinis of course, or walking the runway and the next they are skulking about or running on tippy toe trying to track down the evil villain. . . who is known as the CHAIRman. [?] Say "Pepe Rosa" in your deepest darkest voice.
The handsome Humbert keeps our curiosity alive, is he a bad guy . . . . or just another pretty face?
This is a 1960's action-spy-thriller by acclaimed South American director, Fernando Fernandez. Jasmine Orosco and Paola Apanapal - in their English language film debuts - are Bridget and Sophia who are beautiful and seriously funny women. Kelsey Wedeen and Rebecca Larsen actually pull it off, keeping their characters likable despite their self-centered naiveté.
The center of the plot is a microchip which appears and disappears threatening the lives of our heroines causing dead silence in the audience which is, with one silent voice, praying for their survival. Did I say I was riveted?
The acting is excellent, the direction is crisp and inventive and the photography is very '60's as are the costumes. "It was filmed somewhere in South America in 1966, poorly translated and dubbed by Germans as it plumbs the seedy depths of the international fashion model/psycho-killer underworld with a boldness that only a gun to the head can provide". Or, it was directed by Kiff Scholl, a multi-awarded stage director who has now tried his skillful and dexterous hand to this, his first full length film, which keeps our attention from beginning to end.
Scholl and Bill Robens are to be congratulated for putting together this funny and yet almost believable marvelous comedy thriller. Bikini was nominated for 15 Maverick Movie Awards and won Best Director. Each of the main characters has a back-story which makes sense as we go along. One puzzlement - how do Randolph Mantooth and Kirsten Vangsness appear in a film that was made in the 60's??? Great spoof, eye popping thrills and definitely worth seeing again which, given the opportunity I will.
