Charlize Theron

After watching the DVD of North Country last night, I've been thinking about Charlize Theron. The film was an acceptable if overwrought tale of a woman who brought a sexual harassment case against a mining company. I have no doubt that women were treated in the horrible ways depicted here, but it's the kind of film that the participants cite as "important," which to me raises a red flag. I mean, is there anyone seeing this film that takes the opposing viewpoint?

Anyway, Theron's work is very self-conscious, and she's turned into an actress that I am learning to mistrust. Certainly her story is interesting. She started by playing eye-candy, most notably in Two Days in the Valley, and quickly made many more pictures playing the beautiful girl: That Thing You Do, The Cider House Rules, The Astronaut's Wife, Trapped, and to me, one of her best performances, The Devil's Advocate. She is without a doubt one of the most beautiful actresses in Hollywood, albeit with a kind of icy, sexually distant beauty.

That she has been able to transcend that beauty and become a major Hollywood player is admirable, and she did this largely by hiding her looks and playing a serial killer in Monster, which won her an Oscar. I thought her performance in Monster was mannered and self-conscious. It did the job, but it reaked of "model-flexing-her-acting-chops." Not to be insulting, but it's kind of like when an adult-film actress like Jenna Jameson gives herself a scene in which she has to cry or get angry, as if to prove she's a real actress.

I got the same impression of Theron in North Country. Though she doesn't hag herself nearly as much as she did in Monster, instead just keeping the makeup at a minimum, her hair in a messy shag, and circles under her eyes, Theron nevertheless bends over backwards to play a downtrodden single mother. I'm sorry to say, but Theron's glamour can't be kept out of the role, and I simply saw an actress slumming. As Jon Stewart's gag during the Oscar ceremony said, she should quit doing this. Accept her beauty, and play beautiful people. I'd love to see her in a screwball comedy as the girl that every guy wants.