Angelina Jolie playing Gia Carangi would be like, musically, if Jeff
Beck played a concert celebrating Eric Clapton... while both Jolie
and Carangi are knockouts, they're completely different kind of
knockouts: Gia was subtle, more cute-gorgeous while Angelia's... well... Angelina Jolie and, acting-wise, is quite good here, wielding the
kind of energy that steals her own movie... yet it often feels more like a biopic set during the 1990's than the 1970's/1980's...
The director's partially to blame, making GIA seem a bit too much of exactly what it is: a risque cable movie (or
one of those Don't Do Drugs Specials without any specific reasons behind her using) that sporadically
almost-reaches big-screen potential (the documentary-style interview/interludes mirroring another doomed beauty flick, STAR 80)... meanwhile the lesbian scenes with Kim
Dickens needed to evolve past cliche lipstick chic... although they did
both have terrific chemistry in their build-up, and, overall,
Jolie's almost too good here, not seeming like she's portraying an
actual former niche celebrity but embracing the fact she's on the verge
of becoming a revered beauty-icon herself: Or like she's rebooting
Gia's life rather than factually reliving it... which isn't too shabby,
either way. GRADE: B—
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Kim Dickens and Angelina Jolie
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James Haven and Angelina Jolie in GIA
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White Shadow star Joan Pringle in GIA
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