... a monstrously successful outcome at the Oscars for Charlize

Rating: 10/10 (27 January 2004)

I loved this movie! 10 / 10: I'm holding nothing back. I don't think it's necessarily going to be good for the whoring business along interstates in Florida mind you, but it made one riveting on-screen story. "Charlize Theron: You've done it!' I've followed her career since 'That Thing You Did'. At first I thought her evil twin was cast in error. She was on FIRE! Brilliant. Scary. Perfecto.
Charlize had been script fodder to me . . . filler . a pretty face, nice body to draw the men but without talent of (say) Meryl Streep's caliber. A few more `reach roles' will be necessary to hit Meryl's stride, but she's on her way. Independent film tends to draw the best from an actor's ability, taking payroll cash out of the equation. It separates pretty, rich faces from the talented pretty, rich faces. That should be a right of passage for any wannabe star.
Now why every theater in Tampa isn't vying to show this film (limited distribution in Tampa at least) is beyond me. Yes, this is Florida, and sure - the real Aileen did her felonious mischief only 97 miles away. But if Psycho was mainstream in 1962, surely 41 years later a real psychotic's behavior is fair game today.
The F word is used more often than in Scarface; lesbian sex a/k/a male heaven is prominent (keep the kiddies home), and I think the woman behind me in the theater viewed it as a training video based on her unsolicited commentary of the action. The genre is somewhere between Thelma and Louise, Psycho and Star Trek . . . the latter because it boldly goes where Patty Jenkins hadn't gone before. A monstrously successful outcome at the Oscars do I predict for Charlize. Did I mention this was a 10 out of 10?