D.E.B.S.
It’s fun, it’s campy, it’s perfectly a spy movie mixed in with an unapologetically lesbian love story with opposites attract, enemies to lovers secret relationship, and fantastic chemistry. While being a movie about girls at a secret spy school, it also manages to pull of some great underlying themes about being happy vs fitting expectations, the subtle homophobia towards women loving women, doing what you want vs what you should and embracing your true self. Best of all, the secret SAT measuring an ability to lie, almost referencing Amy’s own denial of being gay and creating a character arc that fits perfectly into the plot. Amy’s character learning to be honest and Lucy choosing to leave everything for love is so beautiful. The tropes are super well done, and the secret lesbian getaway after a week or so of the affair is top notch lesbian. Everything from the soundtrack to the hair, the clothes, the dialogue is perfect for the sub genre. The montages and friendships in this film are so amazing, This film had a vision and nailed it almost exactly. Meagan Good has incredible expressions and tone, and Jimmi and Jordana’s chemistry is totally off the rails and fundamentally perfect for the nature of the film, a great juxtaposition to poor Amy struggling with her own friendships. Speaking of chemistry other than Jordana Brewster and Sara Foster’s, every single minor character is quirky and fits the campiness of the movie. Holland Taylor is so great, and even the hateables like Amy’s terrible recent ex Bobby AKA Geoff Stults are just so much fun to watch.
This film is absolutely brilliant. The characters are fantastic and super fleshed out. The romance is extremely compelling and feels real, all in all a pretty perfect movie. I was going to take a half star off for the terrible green screen at one particular moment and for a minor continuity error where the DEBs mysteriously switch places while dangling on swings from the ceiling and also the horrendous French accent, however, this can all be easily overlooked and Devon Aoki’s smoking makes up for it. Honestly I have no real complaints about the bulk of the film and anybody looking for a culturally queer lesbian movie that’s 2000s, fun and doesn’t take itself too seriously, and most uniquely, features lesbians being HAPPY - look no further than DEBs!