Convoluted Story, Captivating Center

Rating: 6/10 (3 September 2008)

Aileen Wuornos shattered the glass ceiling on female mass murderers, killing seven men she lured into compromising situations in order to support herself and her lesbian lover. Trust Hollywood to celebrate the lesbian and downplay the murders.
Charlize Theron certainly deserved her Best Actress Oscar, playing Wuornos as a dopey but empathetic human sponge unable to process the pain life throws at her, only absorb it. It was a total departure from her glamour-girl image that reads like stunt casting but totally sells you long before the film's end. Her brown eyes burn into you like lit cigarettes.
I'm less sold on the film itself. It doesn't glorify Wuornos, and in fact strains at credibility to make all but one of her victims not only sympathetic but, occasionally, noble. But the film never really explains why Wuornos killed, except that the seediness of turning tricks on the interstate finally got to her, especially when she found love, represented here by the fictional character Selby Wall (Christina Ricci).
Wuornos is the crux of the story, but Selby's the hinge on which the plot must turn, and it's here the film struggles most. Is she an innocent waif, misunderstood by her straight kith and kin? Or is she an enabler and instigator of Wuornos' crimes? Writer-director Patty Jenkins can't seem to decide, and Ricci alternates between interpretations.
One minute she is Wuornos' lonely, loyal buddy, gently, doggedly trying to talk sense to her: "We can be as different as you want to be, but we can't kill people!" Later she's basically telling her to hurry up and kill someone so they can get a ride out of town. "This is YOUR plan," she whines.
On the plus side, other than Theron centering things, is a nice attention to lower-class consumer culture, with ugly t-shirts and corporate rock predominating. "I love this song", Wuornos says as Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" plays from the roller rink speakers where she and Selby are enjoying a date. The irony, which Jenkins sets up well, is that believing is just another luxury Wuornos could not afford.
I like the opening of the film, too, setting up the despondent mood before Theron even arrives, images of a young girl continually abused until the narration abruptly stops (on the word "stopped") to show Wuornos under a bridge right after her last killing. The actors playing the various men Wuornos picks up all bring something unique and interesting to the proceedings.
But there was a lot that felt thrown up for effect, like an odd pal played by Bruce Dern ranting about "circumstance" and a Christian woman looking after Selby who is played in the typical narrow-minded Hollywood manner. Like I said, the film is divided in its loyalties. That may be understandable, but it reduces what could have been a more effective and complex movie to little more than a stage for Theron. Thanks to Theron, it makes for a decent bargain all the same.