Performance Profile: Joan Cusack in "Working Girl" (1988)

"Can I get you anything; coffee, tea...me?"

Tag-along nominations are tricky in this category. Of course by "tag-along" I am referring to those nominations which simply ride the coattails of a film's success (Latifah in Chicago, Gyllenhall in Heart, Driver in Hunting, you get the idea). Most of the time they are shockers and are written off as uneeded and inexplicable (usually do to limited screentime), but I offer an exception to that norm with Joan Cusack's nomination for Working Girl.
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Cusack has the role of Cyn; the protective and caring best friend of Tess, and yes, they are working girls. Cyn is the kind of person anyone would love to have as their side-kick, and the role is written as a side-kick on the page, but what's on the screen is something totally different.

The movie follows Tess' growth into a mature, bussiness woman and the steps she takes to get there. Cusack's performance is basically weaved throughout the film and even though she has minimum screen time (about 8 minutes) the director (the incredible Mike Nichols) respects the character just as he does the lead. When Cyn pops up its usually to show how much Tess has changed and how she is being pushed further from her. Cusack's first big accomplishment is showing the fear and desperation Cyn feels as she believes she is truly losing her best friend to a bigger and better life. She conveys that she isn't jealous of what Tess has and will have, but the way of how she's getting there and how she is pretending to be someone she's not. In a sense, Cyn keeps Tess grounded and its deeply felt.

Cusack also ably mixes the blend of the broad comedy with emotional weight. And while it is broad comedy, Cusack finds subtlety and humanity that most actress' would have missed. Much like Eve Arden's Ida in Mildred Pierce, Cusack's Cyn anchors the proceedings, and acts as its emotional and level-headed guidance throughout. She shows how much she cares for Tess and shows how strong the history of their friendship was and how she desperately needs to hang on to that.

Cusack does something I love to see in a supporting performance, that is of course, actually supporting the narrative and the lead actors. Never does she try to steal any scenes from anyone or grab your attention, but she hangs back and knows her place in the film.

From almost nothing, Cusack brings lovely shades to the character and creates a vibrant, supportive, and delightfully funny human being where some stupid, wacky caricature could have been. What supporting acting is all about....