Okay, I admit, knocking a sports scene in Charlies Angels for being gratuitous is a monumental act of futility. In both its original TV series and the two feature films (lets just ignore that feeble 2011 TV reboot), the set-up is almost entirely founded on frivolity, with the plots little more than a threadbare excuse for our fetching leading ladies to don a series of increasingly absurd fantasy costumes: the 2000 movie alone sees the Angels dress as cocktail waitresses, masseuses, belly dancers, yodellers, even men. Are any of these costume changes strictly necessary? Guess what: no, theyre not. So its little surprise that when the girls dress up as the pit crew for a Formula 1 car, that doesnt serve any particularly great narrative function either. What the sequence does provide is the films only real car chase between Cameron Diazs Natalie and Crispin Glovers villainous Creepy Thin Man (yes, thats literally his credited character name), which makes little sense given it completely blows the Angels cover, and proves fruitless as he gets away. Other than that it gave them a reason to dress the Angels in Evel Knevel jumpsuits, and for Drew Barrymore to be unzipped almost to the navel with a near-lethal amount of cleavage on show. So... all things considered, yes, we can forgive them for it.
