Girl 6

By TODD MCCARTHY

Girl 6 (Comedy-drama -- Color) A Fox Searchlight release of a 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks production. Produced, directed by Spike Lee. Executive producer, Jon Kilik. Screenplay, Suzan-Lori Parks.
 
Girl 6 ... Theresa Randle Shoplifter ... Isaiah Washington Jimmy ... Spike Lee Boss
1 (Lil) ... Jenifer Lewis Girl 39 ... Debi Mazar Caller
1 (Bob) ... Peter Berg Scary Caller
30 ... Michael Imperioli Girl 19 ... Dina Pearlman Girl 42 ... Maggie Rush Salesgirl
1 ... Kristen Wilson Girl 75 ... Naomi Campbell Girl 4 ... Desi Moreno Murray, the Agent ... John Turturro Boss
3 ... Madonna Director
1, N.Y. ... Quentin Tarantino Moviestar Lady ... Halle Berry Director
2, L.A. ... Ron Silver Acting Coach ... Susan Batson Like the lead character's name, "Girl 6" largely remains a cipher. Despite an intriguing premise and an appealing lead performance by Theresa Randle, Spike Lee's modestly scaled look at a young actress who becomes hooked on her job as a phone sex operator crucially lacks narrative momentum and psychological depth. Result is a compendium of colorful characters and mildly provocative scenes, all underscored by an incessant parade of old and new Prince tunes, that keeps the senses diverted but provides little emotional engagement. A dual marketing push aimed at longtime Lee partisans and the ethnic female audience could generate some lively initial biz, but long-term B.O. prospects appear moderate.
 

Superficially, new pic will be compared to Lee's debut feature, "She's Gotta Have It," simply because the lead character is an attractive New York woman surrounded by men who demand her attention. Although the link is made explicit when Girl 6 (Randle) delivers an opening audition monologue taken from the earlier film, the likeness more or less ends there, as Nola Darling was as confident and self-possessed as Girl 6 is confused and malleable.

Initial scenes of Suzan-Lori Parks' screenplay serve to lower the boom on the lead character's immediate hopes of breaking through as an actress. (Pic is Lee's first on which he receives no writing credit.) After listening to her read , a director (Quentin Tarantino) asks her to take her top off, informing her nudity will be required for the role. She obliges, then becomes disgusted and walks out. Let go by her agent (a virtually unrecognizable John Turturro), she gets the kiss-off from her infuriated acting teacher (a mighty Susan Batson).

At loose ends, this otherwise nameless young lady shortly becomes Girl 6, the voice on the other end of the phone willing to become the fantasy sought by a stream of callers to a phone sex number. Interludes detailing her indoctrination into the world of this thriving business, presided over in the comforting manner of a no-nonsense but mother hen-like madam named Lil (the wonderful Jenifer Lewis), and her acceptance by the other women there, exert an undeniable fascination, as an exotic, safely kinky world is opened up simultaneously to the character and the audience.

Girl 6 immediately becomes very popular, as her acting skills give her an advantage in becoming whatever the caller wants her to be. More significantly, however, she soon not only becomes awfully good at "phone bone," but actually gets to like it. A lot.

Along the way, Girl 6 is persistently pursued by her ex (Isaiah Washington), a rather shifty shoplifter whom she would rather avoid, and is challenged about her lifestyle by her neighbor, Jimmy (Lee), a baseball card collector who could use a little constructive advice himself about getting a life.

The rather formless narrative is peppered with visualizations of Girl 6's calls, which are, by turns, straightforward, goofy, somewhat sweet and threatening, but rarely all that raunchy. The men are seen in diverse locations in footage that was shot in Hi-Def, giving it a deliberately rougher, more electronic look than the otherwise lushly appointed visuals. Also included are some showbiz-themed fantasies, including one in which Girl 6 plays Carmen Jones, another that casts her as Foxy Brown and a third that's a parody of "The Jeffersons" with a padded-out Spike Lee center stage.

But all of these diversions can't disguise the lack of a strong story, dramatic complications and, most of all, meaningful insight into Girl 6's character; despite focusing upon her in every scene, the picture never gets into her head. Along with having no name, she is provided with no family or friends -- despite being a local girl, having grown up in Queens -- no interests and no raging needs, desires or ambitions. Her character is defined by its negative spaces, which may explain why she is so susceptible to the addiction her job creates. But it also prevents the viewer from getting a handle on her and mustering a rooting interest in her or the film.

A case in point is the issue raised by the opening scene. Some women would think nothing of doffing their tops for the camera, some would refuse outright, while many would hesitate based on their own morality and outlook on artistic integrity, exploitation and so on. Girl 6 falls into the latter category, but by the end, when she is asked to show her breasts again, one doesn't really know her feelings or understand her response any better than one did at the outset. Ambivalent reactions cued by the opening scene also stifle the mood for comedy, and the film often seems to think it's being funnier than it is.

That Girl 6 remains an enigma wouldn't appear to be the fault of Randle, a beautiful woman who seems responsive to the demands of any scene. She holds the film together as best she can with her luminous presence and dignity, but can't supply the lacking subtext, past history and motivation.

The women at the warmly depicted phone sex emporium are a nifty bunch, with Debi Mazar and Naomi Campbell standing out among the great, mutually supportive ladies. Madonna, done up like an old tart, is in briefly as the head of a more hardcore phone service willing to take Girl 6 aboard whenever she's ready. Washington and Lee are OK as the only men in her life outside of her customers.

Stylistically, pic is sprightly but subdued by Lee's standards. He saves his most potent effects for close-ups that equate Girl 6's envelopment in phone sex with drug addiction, isolating her with varied lighting and disorienting camera movement. Malik Hassan Sayeed's lensing is much better than it was on "Clockers."

Songs by Prince are used as audio wallpaper to both pointed and indiscriminate effect. Production values are strong, notably Ina Mayhew's welcoming production design and Sandra Hernandez's bountiful costumes.

Camera (Technicolor; Deluxe prints), Malik Hassan Sayeed; editor, Sam Pollard; songs, Prince; production design, Ina Mayhew; set decoration, Paul R. Weathered; costume design, Sandra Hernandez; sound (DTS/Dolby), Allan Byer; associate producer, Cirri Nottage; assistant director, Michael Ellis; casting, Aisha Coley. Reviewed at Raleigh Studios, L.A. , March 12, 1996. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 107 min.