Enough padding has been added for those unfamiliar with the original 70's series so it is no disadvantage to not have seen it. Be warned though, those hoping for an action-packed, full-blooded yarn should not expect too much from this action-packed, full-bodied yawn.

The film takes off with a successful sky-diving sequence. We are introduced briefly to the girls and their personal lives and kaboom! they are summoned for the briefing for their next mission by Bill Murray as Bosley, their father figure, friend and Manager. Video footage shows Software designer (Sam Rockwell) being kidnapped along with his voice-recognition material. The most likely suspect is the goggle-eyed owner of the telecommunications mega-giant Star Enterprises, Tim Curry-he could use it in his satellite network which would have the appalling consequence of "the end of Privacy". Shudder.

Armed with their extremely womanly charms, searing intellects and lethal martial art skills, the girls get going. Sadly the film does not, and fairly swiftly one realises that yet again one has been conned by the great-trailer, not-so-great-film syndrome. Tongue-in-cheek, the film is spoof material, one would be disappointed with anything less but spoof without a good script rapidly plummets into the banal and simply boring. Some effort has been made to define the individual personalities of the female leads and there is even some reference to the stress their undercover lives cause in their relationships. Forget the Psychology, don't even think about well-rounded characters, just settle for slick and stylish movie-making (think The Matrix). But even there the film falls short.

All the glamorous costumes, disguises, pouting mouths, shapely limbs and cracking fight scenes fail to detract from a fundamental weakness- there is no feeling of camaraderie or even rapport between them. Each angel is playing her own harp. Perhaps it is just too much of a 'boys' film. Forget double, here we are in the never-ever land of quadruple entendre and ultimately that is one of the ingredients that is probably made the show such a hit. But how long can one sustain that level of humour successfully, especially when the plot is weak and the script average. A sequence where Lucy Liu arrives at Star enterprises in tight leather, a whip and boots and some socialist propaganda certainly did nothing for me. For some reason they don't have guns, though a state of the arts bow late in the day hits the mark. Even the main psychotic henchman who has a penchant for sniffing pulled hair uses a fencing sword for his nasty work. (Somewhere in the background way behind must be their entire team of hairdressers and stylists huffing and puffing. After all we want them to be tough and look good, these are fast girls in fast cars after all.)

Lucy Liu has no charm while Drew Barrymore plays A Rebel Angel with Attitude to some effect. However the real babe by a long way is Cameron Diaz, who manages to pull off the " I can reproduce a retinal scan but I am still such an air-head" act with aplomb. As always she is perfect for the wholesome All-American look and she can gorgeous but gaumless and get away with it. The sound track is ineffective, mostly pop and at times an updated version of the original theme. One redeeming feature is that the villain is not a third-world terrorist as we see so often, at least for that we can be grateful. If nothing else, this film will do wonders for promoting plunging necklines!