Real person + villain + total transformation = OSCAR!!

Monster

Director: Patty Jenkins

Cast: Charlize Theron and Christina Ricci

Released: 12/26/03

Viewed in theaters: 1/30/04

Oscar nominations:

Best Actress - Charlize Theron (won)

If there's one thing I learned from watching this movie, never pick up a hitchhiker because they might KILL you! If there's two things I learned from watching this movie, it's that even Charlize Theron can look unattractive. To play Aileen Wuornos, a prostitute and one of the first female serial killers in the United States, she gained thirty pounds, her hair looked unkempt, her eyes were all red and puffy, she wore fake (and crooked and yellowed) teeth, she wore no make-up and her skin was made up to look blotchy. Charlize was around 27 when she made the movie, but she looks 40! And, thanks to some quick research on Wikipedia, Wuornos was 33 around the time she killed those seven men.

I'm used to Charlize looking like this:

So it's almost shocking to see her look like this:

The first guy she murdered, well, I can't say I blame her. I was rooting for her to kill him. He was an asshole and deserved it after what he did to her. However, she seemed to get it in her head that every guy who picked her up was out to rape her and that's how she made killing those men justifiable. There's one scene where she's with a guy (and this is after she's killed two men) where she lets him go because he was nervous and it was his first time picking up a hooker, so she did her business, took the money and left. She was a messed up woman who did horrible things, but somehow Theron makes you hate her AND feel sympathetic toward her. Well, up until the point where she murdered the ex-cop and that man who was being a good samaritan by giving her a ride. (And that is why we never pick up hitchhikers!)

But I actually did feel some sympathy for her when she was attempting to turn her life around and find a job and that one jerk was really condensing to her. Okay, it wasn't smart of her to walk into a job interview with no degree, no skills, no resume, but that guy was a jerk and I did laugh when she started sprouting off obscenities at him and his assistant. Totally unprofessional, but hilarious.

One of the best scenes in the movie is the phone call between Theron and Ricci, who plays her lover and is cooperating with the police to get her to confess to her over the phone. That scene definitely helped Theron win the Oscar. It also helped that she played a real person who was a villain and had a complete transformation. Usually one of things things will help you win the Oscar, but when you have all three, you're pretty much set for the gold.

Trivia: Charlize won her Oscar on Wuornos's birthday (even though she had long been executed).