Deeply troubling, but well worth it.

Rating: Null/10 (23 January 2004)

Many people seem to believe that Theron's performance is simply over the top, whereas Ricci's is too alternately complacent and conspiratorial to be believable. The sad fact is that I know someone who reminded me in every way of Theron's performance. This made Theron's unbelievably horrifying portrayal of someone utterly without a perception that there is moral justice in the world so believable to me. Watching Theron as Wuornos was too easy for me to view through the lens of an existing friendship, a friend whose entirely hypothetical breakdown could easily occur along the same lines.
This was a deeply disturbing movie, but extremely well-crafted and well acted. Theron proved to me that she's not a model/actor. She's an actor, period. When the credits rolled, a friend turned to me and said, "I'm very glad I saw this, because it was very good, but I never want to see it again." I, for my part, turned to my lover and said, "Thank you for not being crazy." It was all I could say for half an hour. Everyone in the theatre was either shell-shocked or in tears.