Gia (1998)
Now normally I wouldn't be reviewing any kind of TV movie, whether it be on HBO or not. There are limitations to what you can do with TV, & really, my expectations aren't that high when you're just giving it away for free.
Gia is the story of Gia Carangi, a supermodel in the late '70s to early '80s that was apparently huge. I say apparently, because I've never heard of her, & I grew up in those years. I know a lot about pop culture history, but my knowledge of the freak show that is the Fashion World is severely limited.
Basically, Gia lived hard, died young, & left a good-looking corpse. That is to say, after the undertaker was through with her, she was good-looking again. This may be a callous thing to say, sure, but I don't have pity for people with drug problems. Gia was an addict of many a recreational & hard drug, & she was one of the first women whose death was attributed to AIDS, which she acquired through using a dirty needle. I can't feel sorry for her.
Anyways, this movie suffers from the Monster Syndrome. Charlize Theron's uglified performance in Monster was so much better than everything else in that film, the rest of the movie suffered because it couldn't adequately back her role up. Angelina Jolie is tremendous as Gia, beautiful, disturbed, funny, flirty, detached, whatever. When she's going through withdrawal, I believe it.
However, at the end of the day, Gia is just an adequate movie. I'm not sure why heaps of praise are levelled at this movie, other than Jolie's performance. Plus, it's the fashion world, & the fashion world is over-the-top ridiculous all of the time that when I thought they were doing serious interviews with actual people, I thought they were parodying the fashion world.
& one other thing, I'm not sure what Gia's actual mother was like, but the performance Mercedes Ruehl provided was in my eyes, horrible. Half the time I thought she was playing it for laughs. I thought the whole movie was a prequel to Zoolander. I'm not supposed to think that about a real story, & I feel bad for Jolie in this movie. Giving her all, & getting mediocrity in return. 2 outta 5, only because of Jolie's award-worthy performance.