I have to admit that when I received the press material for this film, I was a little leery. After all, it was funded by an organization called Power Up, an organization devoted to increasing the awareness and exposure of gay women in the entertainment industry. Not that I have anything wrong with this goal, but the expectation was a short film that preached incessantly about the trials, tribulations and virtues of being a lesbian in today’s world. I just wasn’t in the mood.
However, when I actually watched the film, I was pleasantly surprised – even if I didn’t quite know what to make of it.
“D.E.B.S.” tells the story of an elite crime-fighting team of high school girls. These girls are recruited using a hidden test in the SATs and taught to be the nation’s secret weapon against crime. Told as a spoof of popular spy television shows, “D.E.B.S.” gives a witty perspective of the genre.
So where do the lesbians come in? Well, the supervillain Lucy In the Sky (Clare Kramer) has captured one of the D.E.B.S., the cute brunette named Amy (Alex Breckenridge). It turns out that Lucy and Amy are secret lovers, only expressing their passion in hiding. The only chance they have to be together is when Lucy kidnaps Max in the middle of a plot to take over the world.
My god, I loved it! Sexy girls running around in schoolgirl outfits. The hot heroine making out with the even hotter villainess. The mere sight of these sexy girls kicking all kinds of a*s in their spy spoof.
Call me crazy, but this type of film isn’t anything new. I’ve seen it’s type a million times on late-night Cinemax. The only difference here is that the filmmakers are actual lesbians and not some misogynistic fly-by-night producer in West Hollywood. This was not an issue-driven film by any means. But it did show that a sense of humor is very important, no matter what your sexual preference is.
In terms of filmmaking, “D.E.B.S.” is a clever spoof, and the production value is excellent. Director Angela Robinson expertly recreates an opening sequence like “Charlie’s Angels” complete with flashbacks to nonexistent earlier episodes (albeit a “Charlie’s Angels” in which the angels get to make out with each other).
The point is – I loved the flick. And as for the lesbian overtones, I loved them too. Possibly not for the reason I was supposed to. I love lesbians like the next red-blooded American male. “D.E.B.S.” didn’t teach me anything new about the gay lifestyle (unless it is to say that lesbian urges are similar to those of us guys). In fact, it didn’t show anything that I haven’t seen in a dozen porno films and beer commercials.
Not that this is a problem, mind you.
