Full Throttle

Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle is a big, fun, bubble-brained mess of a movie, and that's exactly as it should be. Its popular 2000 predecessor got the formula right: gorgeous babes, throwaway plots, and as many current pop-cultural trends as you could stuff into a candy-coated dollop of Hollywood mayhem. This sequel goes one "better": The plot's even more disposable (if that's possible), the babes, cars, and fashions even more outlandish, and the stuntwork (heavily digital, heavily absurd) reaches astonishing heights of cartoon silliness. Reprising their titular (and shamelessly titillating) roles, Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, and Lucy Liu are having the time of their lives, especially when sparring with ultra-buff rogue angel Demi Moore (looking better at 40 than most women half her age) and Justin Theroux as a sleazy Irish mobster. Bernie Mac replaces Bill Murray as angel-sidekick Bosley (they're step-brothers, don'cha know), which is one more indication of McG's intentionally reckless stewardship of an intentionally reckless franchise. Our advice: sit back, relax, and get jiggly with it. --Jeff Shannon