Title: Bitch Slap (2009)Starring: Julia Voth, Erin Cummings, America Olivo
Directed By: Rick Jacobson
So one of the more popular genres in film right now is the reinvention of the exploitation film. You can be equal parts parody and original narrative. For example, Black Dynamite was a very successful attempt at a modern take on Blaxploitation films. This movie tries to recreate the feminist exploitation films of the past. It evokes images similar to those found in Barbarella, Gator Bait, or Caged Heat. The only problem is where Black Dynamite succeeds, Bitch Slap fails. Hard.
We're presented with three unlikeable women doing despicable deeds for nonsensical reasons. If you can't get behind the women in a movie about female empowerment, then the filmmakers have failed. Horrible performances aside, I never once got involved in the motivations of these women; and in all honesty their narrative wasn't presented very clearly at all. The story is told in chunks with flashback after flashback going further and further back in time utilized to bring new light to our characters' relationships and loyalties and overall motives. Unfortunately though, as a plot device, it is terribly misused and implemented too often in an attempt to tie up loose ends and still be "fresh". It just doesn't work.
The only saving grace (and I use that term LOOSELY) is in the fighting. While the camerawork is a little haphazard during them, the fight choreography is pretty impressive for the most part. There are times where they last a little too long, or where there's an awkward pause in the middle, but usually they're impressive and the only real element of fun in this whole film.
I give the creative team props for taking on a project like this at all, but there is a much better film to be made along these lines. This one just didn't do it for me.
Score: 4/10
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