Review: Monster (***)

MONSTER
A film review by Steve Rhodes

Copyright 2003 Steve Rhodes

RATING (0 TO ****): ***


Charlize Theron's great performance saves MONSTER, which suffers from a
mediocre script, aimless direction and a lackluster supporting cast. Bruce
Dern's cameo is the only decent performance besides Theron's, who is like a
star quarterback having the best game ever while playing behind a lazy line
that has trouble throwing an effective block. But when you're watching one
of the best performances of the year -- just give Theron the Oscar now and
save the effort of voting -- you won't care that the rest of the movie has
problems.



Based on the true story about the now executed prostitute and serial killer,
Aileen Wuornos, the movie is unflinching in its portrayal of Aileen and her
crimes. Charlize Theron plays Aileen, but, if I didn't tell you this, you'd
never figure it out. The glamorous Theron, famous for such sexy parts as
the recent THE ITALIAN JOB, looks completely different. With splotchy skin,
uneven and oversized teeth, straw-like hair, and a beer belly, Theron looks
so awful that she gives white trash a bad name. A nervous, fidgety, angry
and explosively violent character, Aileen -- or so the story claims --
starts off her murder spree after being raped and beaten. A hooker since
she was thirteen, she gives up the life of a whore for that of a murderer in
order to support her newfound girlfriend, Selby Wall, played lamely and
unbelievably by Christina Ricci.



"I'm good with the Lord," a trembling Aileen tells Selby while pointing to
heaven after Selby asks about the killings. Aileen feels that her actions
are justified even though one of the men she murders wasn't a John at all
but a Good Samaritan who just offered her help.



The performance by Theron is such a tour de force that you'll soon find
yourself ignoring the plot and the unconvincing actors who play the victims.
Rarely has an actor been given such an opportunity to play so far against
type and rarely has she succeeded so well.



MONSTER runs too long at 1:51. It is rated R for "strong violence and
sexual content, and for pervasive language" and would be acceptable for
older teenagers.



The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, January 9, 2004.
In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Century
theaters and the Camera Cinemas.



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