"Don't you ever get the sudden urge to do that?"
Davis' Oscar winning role as a kooky dog trainer is possibly one of the most least liked winners in history. However, people find their own reasons about why they believe so. In fact, her win was something of a major upset, considering that she wasn't even nominated for the Golden Globe or any big awards, and then goes on to win the Oscar. It's usually a pleasant surprise when the dark horse crosses the finish line first, but in Geena's case, there's a bit more to it.
Let me just say this first; The Accidental Tourist is a dull, tiring bore that could easily help any insomniac with their problem. The pacing is exhausting, the direction is flat (no wonder Kasden didn't get a nom), and the script is as bland as rotten oatmeal. And William Hurt? Oh my. Like a hole being drilled through my ear and into my brain (he never develops this already boring character and his "acting" is excruciating at the worst levels). But luckily this mess has a silver lining in the form of Geena Davis who plays Muriel Pritchett, a quirky dog trainer who slowly begins a relationship with Hurt's Meacon. Basically she's used in the narrative to brighten up and redeem Meacon's life which is falling apart. She's a rainbow of optimism who wants to shower her goodness onto this grieving man whom she becomes attached to. After a rocking and awkward start, the two delve into a romantic relationship, and its through Davis' Muriel that he sees that life is truly worth living and living well.
Davis bursts on the screen with verve and energy which almost immediately jump starts the dour atmosphere of the film -- in other words, she gives it a burst of life. She ably emanates the charm, the sweetness, and the warmth of this unusual woman and does so in a surprisingly unsentimental manner. Davis' two big accomplishments in the role derive from her understanding of the character; although Muriel is a person who could easily be a self-involved or cold creation (and her random Juno-ish non-sequitar dialogue adds to that), Davis never lets the character become caught up in herself -- instead, she uses this "random" aspect of Muriel to express her concern and warmth towards Meacon. She's basically being herself, but never involved with herself in a conceited way. The second accomplishment is never letting that huge "quirkiness" personality overflow her characterization. Muriel may be such, but Davis grounds the character in the early scenes and keeps a firm hold on Muriel's disposition. But upon review, I had noticed that Davis' overall performance is not as carefully executed as I had originally believed. What came up after another go around is that Davis never really shades the character with any other dimensions or layers of understanding. Sure, she has different reasons for doing different things, but she never really explores or digs deeper for any kind of darker depth within Muriel, this in turn, keeps Muriel from becoming a truly humane character. She focuses way too much on her bright, sunny side and rarely shows us more. Also, as the film's goes on, Davis's characterization slips up, becoming contrived and uneven; she loses the quirk, the wit/charm she had in the beginning and her big "character" moments just feel out of place. It's during this time when she never provides reasoning for her attraction to Meacon and why she follows him to Paris, and such. She comes off as, frankly, a creepy caricature who is not the person we saw first at the dog kennel. I understand of course, that a character usually changes and grows, but Davis never fleshes everything out to see how/why she is different.
Davis' work is certainly a respectable and memorable achievement in the history of Supporting Actressness, yet the actress never quite fufill's the movie's requirement of something more complete and human.
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