FOR an actress who can command US$7 million (HK$54 million) to appear in Sister Act 2 - making her one of the highest-paid females in Hollywood - Whoopi Goldberg spends an inordinate amount of time playing smart, sassy maids.
I've read her defend this, saying she takes the best of what's available, but it seems a dreadful waste of her talents - never mind reinforcing an undesirable stereotype. But she's so good, she can make anything watchable, whether it be the abused wife/maid in The Color Purple, the clairvoyant maid in Clara's Heart, the righteous maid in The Long Walk Home, or the maid in love with her employer in Corrina, Corrina.
Despite her image as an outspoken and unconventional comic - reinforced by roles in Ghost and Sister Act - Goldberg is a fine actress, and she shines in Corrina, Corrina. It's a rather slight movie, though, only lifted by fine performances by Goldberg, Ray Liotta and child actor Tina Majorina.
Jingle writer Manny Singer (Liotta) has been recently widowed, and his seven-year-old daughter is reclusive and deliberately mute when Corrina Washington (Goldberg) joins them as housekeeper. Smart, funny and over-qualified for the job, she signs on because she needs the money and ends up becoming emotionally involved with the child, and, Manny himself.
Corrina, Corrina is set in the 60s, probably because it's easier for director Jessie Nelson to handle the inter-racial romance in a historical setting - it would be rather uncomfortable for viewers to confront the fact that things are exactly the same for mixed-race couples today, wouldn't it? So Corrina, Corrina takes the easy option in a feel-good format, which, although insubstantial and cowardly in its reluctance to tackle the larger issues of Corinna and Manny's relationship, is enjoyable enough.
I wonder does Goldberg feel some empathy with Corrina - smart, funny, over-qualified, trying to work in a largely white man's Hollywood where they don't know what to do with someone with her talents? Maybe that's the real answer to why she felt attracted to this role.
DROP Zone is Testosterone City; it's a movie where even badass actor Wesley Snipes is emasculated by aggressive and muscular women.
Yancy Butler, as a world-class stunt skydiver, is one of these; but there's also a woman in the baddie gang (Claire Stansfield) who has a body like a washboard. I furtively tucked the extra-large popcorn under the chair and sucked in my stomach.
Drop Zone, however, is hardly worth the effort. Snipes plays an FBI agent who must infiltrate the skydiving world to find a terrorist-for-hire gang, led by Gary Busey, who are using their skills to drop in on banks. In order to do this, he must win Butler's allegiance and join her formation-diving team to learn the ropes.
There's a lot of jokes about Snipes' vertigo, even more cute gals in skintight suits, and Busey spits out his lines with the usual aplomb. But - and this is a big but - by the umpteenth aerial sequence, formation diving fatigue sets in.
The blue-screen work is often sloppy, and in one sequence it is possible to identify a landing diver as a dummy stuffed with straw. Not what you'd expect from director John Badham, but Drop Zone is so carried away by its own adrenalin, it careens past a few corners.
Like the plot, which is by numbers, with absolutely nothing in the way of suspense. Action sequences alone can't fuel a movie for two hours, although some here are quite stunning. Snipes doesn't exactly have a character to work with, either, and while he approaches the part with true professionalism, he simply can't make it come together.
A true no-brainer, Drop Zone will find a home with the dedicated action crowd, but has little appeal past that.
Corrina, Corrina is scheduled for release on March 2 at the Windsor Cinema only; Drop Zone is showing on the Panasia Circuit
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