A "Monster" Performance

Rating: 8/10 (23 February 2004)

this ain't about just "de-glamming" charlize theron...this is about her getting 110% LOST in the role of aileen wournos...she's on screen for just about the entire length of the movie and completely inhabits her character for the duration...those awards she's been getting (golden globe, sag and next week's oscar) are a foregone conclusion...you aren't going to forget THIS performance any time soon...
christina ricci also scores a personal best here...and the support cast (lee tergesen, bruce dern, scott wilson, et al.), who apparently worked for peanuts on this film, make the most of their screen time....
the movie itself? DARK DARK DARK...like "leaving las vegas", you ain't gonna go home humming the tunes from this one...death penalty/abuse martyr or stone cold killer? the actual facts of the wournos case are on record and you can draw your own conclusions about how the film colors those facts, but there's no arguing that this a superior bit of directing by patty jenkins

(a propos of absolutely nothing, seems to me that theron and ashley judd, who's about one solid role away from an oscar herself, are going to be competing for very similar roles in their cinematic futures...both of them are extremely intelligent actresses who bring somewhat similar dimensions to the roles they play...looking forward to what both of them have in store.)