Fourth Angel, The
Jennifer Lopez proves she's better at picking hit songs than hit movies with this predictable romantic drama about a cop who falls for an oddball who saves her life
It's tough being a female cop, apparently. Despite being able to slam men twice her size onto the hood of her police car, and having the body of Jennifer Lopez, Chicago cop Sharon spends her nights alone watching TV (much as Lopez did in her previous two movies, The Cell and The Wedding Planner). That is, of course, until she is saved from being killed by a gunman by a strange passer-by named Catch (Caviezel). To the audience he isn't exactly the ideal catch (ho ho) - he's been following her (which explains why he was strolling past when she was attacked), he lives in an empty apartment, doesn't have a job, keeps toys in his kitchen drawers instead of cutlery and, well, looks really dirty. He's also terribly sullen, which Sharon obviously interprets as deep because it's not long before she's ignoring his creepiness and batting her mascara'd eyelashes at him. The title is supposed to hint at something otherworldly - where did Catch come from? why was he following Sharon? he delivers groceries to an old lady, could he be an angel? - but anyone with half a brain, or who didn't nod off during the opening five minutes (Sharon saving an unseen person - guess who? - from a car crash a few years before) will realise early on just who and what Catch is. And will then have to sit through the rest of the movie while Sharon slowly figures it out. Lopez does her best with the material she's given (a sub-plot about her mother and abusive father gives her a chance to flash her acting chops) but this is all too prettily directed by Mandoki (Message In A Bottle, When A Man Loves A Woman) to be very interesting to male audiences (although Lopez cavorting in her bra and pants in a lake is a small consolation, no doubt). Meanwhile women looking for a weepie will find themselves groaning at the predictable conclusion - if they're still awake. |
