'Miss Bala' Review: Worth watching Super Bowl weekend?
NEW YORK (WABC) -- The major Hollywood studios usually take a pass on releasing new movies over Super Bowl weekend.
It's like a "bye week" in the NFL as film companies save their expensive blockbusters for a time when more people are paying attention, but Sony is betting some of you will want to take a break from all the hype around the big game to go see "Miss Bala."
Sometimes a movie exists to introduce us to a star of tomorrow who is here today, or in the case of Gina Rodriguez, to reintroduce us to a performer we thought we knew. Fame came to Gina as "Jane the Virgin" on TV, but as "Miss Bala" (which means "Miss Bullet" in Spanish), she's been around the block a few times.
Her character travels from California to Mexico to support her best friend, who's competing in a beauty pageant, but when Suzu goes missing, the search for her puts Gina's character under the control of a drug lord.
By placing her friend in peril, the bad guys get Gloria into smuggling and arson, and blowing up a DEA safe house gets the attention of the drug enforcement agents.
Anthony Mackie has a very small but pivotal role, but it's not enough to be worth the price of admission. I had fun watching this one, but with so many similar shows available on TV right now, it's hard to justify paying to see movies like "Miss Bala." -- however worthy as its story of female empowerment may be and as hard as the star works to put it over.
Whether or not you go see her is, of course, up to you! "Miss Bala" isn't a bad alternative to the Super Bowl, especially if you're not a football fan. If it were up to me, I'd probably wait to see it on video during a lazy weekend afternoon sometime in the future.
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