Ugly yourself up, win an Oscar

Rating: 5/10 (7 January 2011)

Oscar voters love it when performers transform themselves into something as far away as possible from who they really are. Charlize Theron is not crazy, is stunningly beautiful and I rather doubt she will ever kill seven people. So playing a crazy, ugly serial killer gets her an Oscar. Never mind the fact the movie isn't any good. Yes, Theron undergoes a stunning transformation. And it certainly took some serious acting talent for her to pull off this role. She's believable as notorious murderer Aileen Wuornos. But you'd like to think winning an Oscar would require more than just being believable in a role that doesn't suit you at all. Especially when, however good your performance may be perceived to be, the movie itself fails rather miserably.
Monster suffers from a severe lack of drama. OK, so it's a true story and we know from the beginning exactly where this is headed. But there have been plenty of movies based on true stories which, even though you knew their ultimate destination, have been throughly compelling and entertaining. Sadly that is far from being the case here. This movie is mind-numbingly boring. There are only two characters even worth mentioning. One of course is Aileen, the other is her little lesbian lover Selby who spends the whole movie following Aileen around like a pathetic, clueless little puppy dog. Poor Christina Ricci is saddled with this part, the character is such a total zero there was never really any chance for Ricci to make anything of it. She really has nothing to do, it is Theron's movie through and through. And that brings its own problems. First off the layers of ugly makeup slathered all over her face look ridiculous. For much of this movie Aileen doesn't even look human. With all that gunk on her face it's nearly impossible to see Theron emote at all. Her face is a blank, ugly slate. Note to future filmmakers: if you want to make a movie about a notably unattractive woman perhaps best to not cast one of the world's most beautiful women in the role. All the effort required to make Theron look hideous ends up hurting the film. Quite frankly, she looks ridiculous. Theron certainly gives a game effort, trying so hard to be something she so obviously is not. But the way she carries herself, all her exaggerated mannerisms in trying to show how uncomfortable Aileen Wuornos was in her own skin, it just doesn't work. If you have to try this hard to appear awkward and ungainly perhaps this isn't the role for you. The movie is also hurt by the director's obvious, and obviously misguided, attempt to turn Aileen Wuornos into a a sympathetic figure. This effort fails miserably. You don't feel sympathy for the character. Honestly the movie is such a snooze you really don't feel much of anything at all. But if you did, sympathy for this monstrous murderer would certainly not be the prevailing emotion. The only good thing you can say about this movie is that Theron took on an incredible challenge and that she did about as well as could be expected with it. But it's not the stuff of Oscar dreams. And the movie as a whole is a nightmare.