Truth in advertising

On Monday night I saw D.E.B.S., a bright and cheerful teen comedy that premiered at last year's Sundance film festival (the same edition of Sundance that gave birth to monsters like Garden State and Napoleon Dynamite, but also fine work like Primer and beautiful work like Maria Full of Grace).

There's little that's notable about the movie. It's another one of those Sundance also-rans that doesn't quite live up to its potential. But, also like a lot of Sundance films, it does have its niche. Think Charlie's Angels (or Alias) set in a private girls high school. But here's the hook: there's romance blossoming between the school's best agent and a rival supervillian, both girls.

Not that you would know that from the film's lame-brained ad campaign, which is almost entirely avoiding the lesbian angle in an attempt to sell D.E.B.S. as a regular old teen comedy in the vein of Bring It On or Mean Girls. It's a ludicrous strategy that completely ignores the exact audience that is most likely to embrace the film. And I really don't believe marketing is going to fool many people into seeing D.E.B.S., given its obvious low profile and star-free cast.

Anyone who does see it based on the selling points of a teen girl spy comedy will be disappointed. Budget restrictions clearly limited any action potential, in most instances the "action" scenes are limited to the girls walking around holding guns. The feature has been expanded from a short of the same name and concept by the same director, Angela Robinson. I haven't seen the short but there's not much in the feature that signals a creative leap forward, much of D.E.B.S. the feature still feels like a student film.

However, there is a fair amount of visual and verbal wit and some solid performances. Jordana Brewster, as the sexy supervillian, has never been as lively or likeable on screen as she is here. Among the supporting cast, Jill Ritchie and Jimmi Simpson stand out with strong comic timing. I'm sure it's not a coincidence Robinson is putting both actors to work in her next film, Herbie: Fully Loaded (eek).

Even though it's not a great film it's easy to imagine D.E.B.S. gaining a loyal cult following, but inviting the wrong audience is only going to hinder its opportunity to do that.