Blonde Ambition

Make no mistake, this is a "B" movie but a nicely made "B" movie with fine actors. It is set in NYC but except for a few establishing shots was filmed in Minden and Shreveport, Louisiana.

Jessica Simpson is Katie from a small town in Oklahoma. She has a fiancee that is a bit stuck on himself and he moves to NYC to pursue his fashion modeling. When she pays him a surprise visit she finds out that he isn't very faithful and they break up. Ready to accept that fate and return to Oklahoma, her friend Haley pursuades her to stay a bit. Then by a stroke of luck Katie gets a job as the assistant to the president of a company.

All of this is quite improbable, including the way she meets Luke Wilson as Ben of the mail room, but they quickly take a liking to one another.

Underrated actress Penelope Ann Miller is probably the best here, as Debra, the devious VP of the company, trying to use Katie as a way to make the President look bad so she can move up. She plays the part to perfection.

It was also nice to see Willy Nelson, while he would not give Gene Hackman or Marlon Brando much competition, he was a nice addition as Katie's Pap Paw. And also one of my favorites over the years, Rachael Leigh Cook as Katie's friend Haley.

I found this streaming on Amazon Prime, the goings on are highly unlikely but I was entertained.

I saw this movie on the internet, and it was nothing but a waste of time and money. Jessica Simpson is a terrible actress and her recent music records have failed. Since divorcing, she has pretty much nothing, very little talent. And she must love showing off her dark roots.

The movie is about a small town girl, Katie, moving to New York City to surprise her boyfriend. Only to find out he's cheating on her. She stays with her friend and gets a secretarial job because the vice president of the company wants the president to fail, so she can take over. Katie makes mistakes, but everything always turns out OK and she must help her boss save his job. Luke Wilson, plays Ben, the romantic interests who basically does nothing.

There was nothing funny nor even amusing about this movie. It was boring with a terrible script. I know why it's going straight to DVD.

FINAL VERDICT: It stars Jessica Simpson. Need I say more. A complete and total bomb.

By now you should already know about this film, the Jessica Simpson "bomb" that pretty much went straight to video (limited, anemic theatrical run). Basically, Ms. Simpson's Katie travels from a small town in Oklahoma to visit her boyfriend, to surprise him, only to find him in bed with another woman. She is stranded, but has one friend (Rachel Leigh Cook, whom I wish we saw more often in film), who lets her stay. Katie ends up getting a job via two conniving co-workers (Penelope Ann Miller and the always amusing Andy Dick) who are just using Katie to get the president of the firm (Larry Miller) ousted. This is strictly a b movie, its not meant to be profound. Jessica Simpson is not a great actress by any means, but she is pretty much beautiful and never truly annoying. The film is watchable in that its not an abomination, but its throwaway fluff. In a cameo, Penny Marshall is funny (a subtle in-joke about Milwaukee made me chuckle), and there is a funny scene involving Norwegian priests (don't read too much into this). So, not horrible, but easy to skip. Your safe bet is to watch it on television if it ever does. Again, not good, but not a profound disaster.

This is a truly awful movie, but wonderful at the same time. It's like Tokyo Drift ... although not quite as stupid as that masterpiece. Blonde Ambition is not a mean, ugly film like Showgirls, which they have tried to rebrand as a cult classic. Rather, it is a piece of bubblegum ... and a monument of sugary stupidity rarely achieved in cinema ... therefore bubblegum you can savor long after the flavor is gone. Watching Jessica Simpson mug like an idiot, trying to do slapstick, possibly the worst I've ever seen, is a joy beyond words. Andy Dick is a dick. I guess Luke Wilson has some talent, but this script is so bad it's kind of fun to watch the what-the-****-am-i-doing-in-this-t*rd looks fall across his face as he tries to deliver the awful lines. Highly recommended.

Who wrote this? Some guy named John Cohen. I guess this was the first screenplay he's ever worked on. Someone should've told him you're supposed to write dialog that sounds like something someone actually might say.

And who directed this? Scott Marshal? Son of Gerry Marshall. My the nut has fallen far from the tree. Someone might have wanted to let him know that you can, in fact, shoot a scene in a cab in New York, and it will look real, and you won't have to fake it with a blue screen for no reason. Might have also wanted to let him know he should stay away from Jessica Simpson, but hopefully he's learned that lesson now.

And Jessica Simpson... naturally she can't act. Hell, she makes Jessica Alba look like Audry Hepburn, and yet she's starring in this movie. OH wait, it was produced by her father. Okay, that's why she got the part. That's really the only reason I can think of.

So should I be surprised it's bad? No. Should I be amazed at how bad it is? I think a lot of people would if they saw as much of it as I did. I mean you expect a movie starring Jessica Simpson to be bad, but this... it's not just bad, it's the complete opposite of a classic film. Think of a great Woody Allen movie, this film is as bad as that film is good. It's the Anti-Annie Hall.

I am so glad I didn't pay to see it, I stopped watching ten minutes in cus I couldn't go on. No doubt I would've walked out of the theater sooner. In fact I wonder how many of the 6 people who saw it per theater actually stayed and watched the whole thing. The film starts out laughably bad, and then goes to the point of being so bad it becomes a kind of Chinese water torture. And then, around when the first act is ending, you realize it'll only get worse, and that's when you either need to leave, or kill yourself.

In conclusion, this film goes under the category of being so bad it should be used in place of water boarding at Guantanamo Bay. Although some prefer the water boarding.