Monster Mash

Rating: Null/10 (11 April 2004)

Some people who have seen what Charlize Theron looks like in her new film `Monster'-either from the film or in publicity photos-have said that she looks `fat and ugly.' There is a perfectly good reason for people to have this reaction: they are morons. Anyone who sees this film and complains about Theron's looks should probably stick to `The Cider House Rules' or `2 Days in the Valley' or something, because to come away from a performance of this magnitude and complain that Theron isn't hot is like getting a free tour of heaven and complaining about the altitude. Theron's transformation into serial killer Aileen Wuornos is so complete and perfect that it will be impossible to discuss the all-time greatest acting jobs in the future without mentioning this one. She's that good.
The film is based on the true story of Aileen Wuornos, a lifelong hooker who killed seven of her patrons in the late 1980's. Like any good story, `Monster' lives in its details. In less caring hands, this movie would have been nothing more than an exploitative shocker. The pieces are there: a lesbian relationship, a hooker, serial killings. But the actors and filmmakers have made a truthful film about real people, and that is what most viewers will come away with. `Basic Instinct' was another movie about a lesbian murderer, and that film took a lot of hits for presenting lesbians as evil, manipulative killers. This film will not have that same kind of backlash because it is not a film about lesbians as killers; it is a film about a woman who is driven to kill, and happens to be a lesbian.
While Theron has gotten all of the press, Ricci is also very impressive as Wuornos' young lover. While I am not surprised to see Ricci in this kind of a movie-she has always been an actress who takes chances-I was surprised to see her performance. She is not her usual sardonic, cynical self; her Selby is more innocent and naÃ¯ve than the character she played in `Casper.'
`Monster' is a frightening movie, but it is also filled with intensely dark moments of comedy as Wuornos struggles to relate to people like a normal human. She is so inept in social conventions that when a man tells her to `call him daddy,' she asks him if it's because he likes to sleep with children. Wuornos is not like any serial killer I've seen before; aside from killing them, she did not horribly violate or mutilate her victims like Bundy or Dahmer, and she was not an intellectual like Hannibal Lecter. Perhaps more interesting and more telling than the fact that she was the first female serial killer is that she was the first serial killer to simply use a gun.
`Monster' does not excuse the actions of Wuornos, nor does it present her as some kind of super-villain. It simply presents her story honestly and unflinchingly. Theron took a chance by bulking up for this role, and it paid off. This is a terrifically powerful movie.