Performance Profile: Sigourney Weaver in "Working Girl" (1988)

"I am, after all, me."

Sigourney Weaver's loss in the supporting category this year proved that if you get two nominations in two different categories you will not always win. Her nomination for Supporting Actress came from her performance as Katherine Parker in Mike Nichols' delightful (and still fresh) comedy, Working Girl.

The character comes into play when Tess McGill (Melanie Griffith, in a glowing, star performance) is reassiagned to be financial executive Katherine Parker's new secretary. The role is scripted as the boss-from-hell routine on the page, but what's interesting is how Weaver doesn't illuminate Katherine's sneaky ways quite yet, and instead makes her into a likeable person. But - a person who may or may not be what she seems.

Upon viewing the film again recently, I have come to see that Weaver actually does some pretty solid work, unlikewhat I had noticed before; her comedic timing is impeccable, she does some inspired work in terms of acting choices, and she knows exactly what she's doing while on screen.

Yet, I still remain unconvinced that a full character is being projected here. This is more to fault the script for, considering Katherine is never really fleshed out. She is basically in two big chunks of the movie, the begininng and end, and during those scenes the script never really creates a character, but a caricature. And yes, in those later scenes when Katherine is written as a cartoon, Weaver just goes along with it. Just making a more detailed cartoon. Although she never goes over that expected edge, she doesn't really humanize Katherine, and gives into the writing. The one moment when I really saw something deeper was when she is exposed and basically backed into a corner ("get your bony ass out of my sight!") ; we see some real fear and embarrasment and its fun to watch her spiral down.

It's a performance that anyone could have really played, and probably have played it even better than Weaver, which sort of sours me overall. Despite the negatives, Weaver is funny and smart in her approach, making her character interesting and unique even with the limitations of the writing.

* To add even more surprise I'll reveal all of the individual ratings only during the final outcome. Stay tuned! *