Taglines: Murder. Blackmail. Temptation. Redemption. It’s been a busy week.
Gigli, a lowly and inept hitman, is assigned a job by the mob to kidnap an intellectually disabled brother of a California district attorney. Gigli abducts the brother from his mental hospital and holds him hostage in his apartment. Ricki, a “lesbian assassin”, is sent to oversee Gigli’s job and make sure he doesn’t screw it up. Comedic high jinks ensue as the two go on the lam and start to fall in love.
Gigli is an American romantic comedy film written and directed by Martin Brest and starring Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, Justin Bartha, Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, and Lainie Kazan.
After a protracted battle between studio and director, a radically revised version of the original film was released[citation needed]. There was significant media attention and popular interest prior to its release, primarily because Affleck and Lopez, the film’s stars, were romantically involved at the time.
Critical reception was extremely negative, and in the years since its release Gigli has been considered one of the worst films ever released. The film was also one of the most expensive box office bombs in history, grossing $7.2 million against a $75.6 million budget.
Larry Gigli (Ben Affleck) is a low-ranking Los Angeles mobster who isn’t nearly as tough as he likes to act. He is commanded to kidnap the mentally challenged younger brother of a powerful federal prosecutor to save New York-based mob boss Starkman (Al Pacino) from prison. Gigli successfully convinces the young man, Brian (Justin Bartha), to go off with him by promising to take him “to the Baywatch”, which seems to be Brian’s singular obsession, and turns out to just be the beach. The man who ordered the kidnapping, Louis (Lenny Venito), does not trust Gigli to get the job done right, so he hires a woman calling herself Ricki (Jennifer Lopez) to take charge.
Gigli is attracted to Ricki, but he resents the fact that Louis does not have faith in him and that he has to take orders from a woman. He is also frustrated by Brian’s insistence on going to “the Baywatch” and by Ricki’s being a lesbian. A suspicious detective (Christopher Walken) comes to the apartment to question Gigli, who is further annoyed when his mother (Lainie Kazan) takes an immediate liking to Ricki, both of them needling him.
The events take a darker turn when Gigli and Ricki receive orders to cut off Brian’s thumb, something neither wants to do. Worse, Ricki’s girlfriend, Robin (Missy Crider), shows up at Gigli’s apartment, accusing her of cheating. She slits her wrists and has to be rushed to the hospital. While at the hospital, Gigli goes to the morgue and cuts off a corpse’s thumb, which he sends to his boss as Brian’s thumb. Gigli and Ricki go back to his apartment where Gigli confesses his love, and the two sleep together.
They are summoned to meet with the mob’s boss. Starkman reveals that he didn’t approve of the plan to kidnap a federal prosecutor’s brother and scolds them because the thumb they sent won’t match Brian’s fingerprint; he then kills Louis. Starkman is about to kill Ricki and Gigli as well, but Ricki talks him out of it.
They decide to take Brian back to where they found him. On the way, they discover Baywatch (or a similarly themed show or film) shooting an episode on the beach. They leave a happy Brian there. At the last minute, Ricki decides to leave town with Gigli, and finally reveals her real name – Rochelle.
Directed by: Martin Brest
Starring: Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, Justin Bartha, Christopher Walken, Todd Giebenhain, Brian Sites, Lenny Venito
Screenplay by: Martin Brest
Production Design by: Gary Frutkoff
Cinematography by: Robert Elswit
Film Editing by: Julie Monroe, Billy Weber
Costume Design by: Michael Kaplan
Set Decoration by: Maggie Martin
Music by: John Powell
MPAA Rating: R for sexual content, pervasive language and brief strong violence.
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Release Date: August 1, 2003
