BIRDS OF PREY (AND THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF ONE HARLEY QUINN) (2020) * ½

After a disappointing opening weekend, Warner Brothers and DC quietly changed the name of Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) to a more streamlined Harley Quinn:  Birds of Prey.  (The version I saw kept the needlessly wordy original title intact.)  The more I think about it though, the newer title is shockingly a lot more accurate.  This is a Harley Quinn movie with precious little Birds of Prey action.  The original title seems to suggest that the Birds of Prey would be the main focus with Harley Quinn’s parenthetical adventure being almost an afterthought.  That is not the case however as Harley dominates the movie.  So much so that the Birds of Prey probably only get about ten or fifteen minutes of screen time together as an actual team.  

The schizophrenic title should’ve been my tip-off that this was going to suck.  It immediately clues you in on how the movie gratuitously winks at the camera and thinks it’s oh-so precious and clever when it’s really just a noisy, ugly, and obnoxious slog.  Like the title, the picture itself is unnecessarily cluttered with a lot of extra nonsense that a more experienced director would’ve chunked in favor of forward motion.  As it is, it’s full of a bunch of little asides, flashbacks, and mini-origin stories in search of a feature film.  

For the record, I think a standalone Birds of Prey movie would’ve worked.  I also believe a Harley Quin spin-off could’ve been great.  Frankensteining the two projects together does neither property any favors.

I liked Margot Robbie as much as anyone did in Suicide Squad.  She was easily the best thing about that film.  Here, the filmmakers make her the centerpiece, which wasn’t a bad idea in theory.  However, their approach is to make the movie as colorful, rambunctious, and chaotic as the main character, which is a crucial mistake.  It’s so all over the place you might have to sprinkle a little ADHD medication over your popcorn to make sense of it.  You know you’re in trouble when the usually energetic Rosie Perez gives the most subdued performance.  

Fans of the Birds of Prey TV show and comics will probably be mystified by the handling of the non-Harley characters.  Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) only uses her sonic scream once and Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco) has more in common with Oliver Twist than Batgirl.  Only Mary Elizabeth Winstead really nails her character, Huntress.  Even then, they try to make her comical, which feels kind of forced and isn’t very successful (although I liked her interactions with the team as she is not a people person).  I mean, where’s Oracle?  How they could do a Birds of Prey movie without her is beyond me.

Only Ewan McGregor shines as the villain, Black Mask.  He doesn’t take any of this nonsense seriously and is content to just chew on the scenery.  He gets a funny line or two, but that’s not nearly enough to make it worth the slog.  Chris Messina might’ve gotten to sink his teeth into the role of his henchman, Victor Zsasz, but he’s pretty much wasted.

Most of the movie plays like the byproduct of an offscreen bet between film departments to see who could louse up their job the most.  The costumes are atrocious, the lightning is garish, and the cinematography is ugly.  At least the fight scenes are coherent, although only one of them (Harley’s action sequence in the police station) is memorable.  

The R rating feels gratuitous too.  The adult approach to Joker and the in-joke snark of Deadpool warranted an R rating.  Here, it just feels like a tween who just found out they can say the word “fuck” and begin tossing it out whenever they feel like it.  

In short, Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous yada, yada, yada) is by far the worst DC Extended Universe movie and their worst effort since the much-maligned Superman Returns.

DC Extended Universe Scorecard:  

Batman v Superman:  Dawn of Justice: ****

Man of Steel:  ****

Aquaman:  *** ½

Wonder Woman:  *** ½

Justice League:  *** ½

Shazam!:  ***

Suicide Squad:  ***

Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn):  * ½

AKA:  Harley Quinn:  Birds of Prey.