Not exactly a date movie...

Rating: 8/10 (8 October 2006)

If you've seen Nick Broomfield's doc 'Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer' then you'll know how uncannily accurate Charlize Theron's performance is in Monster, as the alternately terrifying and sympathetic Aileen Wuornos. Given the rest of her output, I'd be shocked if it isn't the defining performance of her career, but given the towering nature of it, most people would be glad to add it to their résumé. Monster is a bleak, depressing and harrowing film, and Theron is the centre of it. However, of equal importance is Christina Ricci, as she serves to balance Theron and give a dramatic hook to the story. As the plaudits showered upon Theron, I think Ricci was overlooked, as she also gives a terrific performance as the weak Selby, who is complicit in most of the crimes and thus just as much a Monster in many ways.
Certainly the film takes liberties with the facts of the case, but so what? It is entertainment, not education. I am sure Wuornos' victims' families were not all happy that she was painted in such a way as to help understand her crimes rather than to simply vilify her for them, but as a disturbing picture of the evil that men and women do, Monster is top class.