Best Supporting Actress 1988: The (long awaited) Results!

Here it FINALLY is guys!

5. Michelle Pfeiffer in Dangerous Liaisons 

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

"Pfeiffer's performance simply never hooks onto the essence of Mme Tourvel's journey of vast feelings and complexities, and communicates false emotions; illuminating nothing about her character's inner or outer life. Her's is a major misreading, that becomes a muddled mess of contrived feeling and little understanding."

4. Frances McDormand in Mississippi Burning

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

 

"From very little on her plate, McDormand finds a human in this sketchy, neglected role of a cliched housewife. She layers just enough subtlety and nuance into Mrs. Pell, and she lends the role quiet touches of sadness and pain buried beneath. But - the character as a used as a device and given no development, thus hurting the overall performance."

 

 

3. Geena Davis in The Accidental Tourist

  ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

 

"Davis bursts on the screen with verve and energy which almost immediately jump starts the dour atmosphere of the film, and effectively infuses the role with charm, sweetness, and warmth. However, her performance begins to drag in the film's second half, and she somehow loses the character, which by then becomes a creepy caricature of overflowing quirks; rendering Muriel of both appeal and demension."

 

2. Sigourney Weaver in Working Girl

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

 

"Going back and taking another look was a whole new experience: Weaver puts a fresh and interesting spin on the "boss from hell" routine, and with humor both subtle and broad, makes her Katherine a genuinely hilarious treat. Her comic timing sparkles, she remarkably avoids cliched pitfalls, and maintains control of the character without ever coming off as stiff or overly staid. Witty, unique, and delightful."

 

 

1. Joan Cusack in Working Girl

  ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

 

The role: to simply be the funny, second-banana sidekick to the lead. The outcome: so much more than the role required. Rather than just playing the role as a one-dimensional ditz (which many actress' would have) , Cusack crafts a complete characterization and provides Cyn with a compelling character arc - one that's utterly essential to Working Girl. She provides the film with a funny, yet emotional anchor, and in doing so shades the role with gentle luminous strokes. She conveys that she truly does care about Tess, but at the same time she's scared to be deserted by her best friend as she moves on up. Cusack projects true emotional clarity and finds a three-dimensional human in a role which could have ended up as a cornball caricature. Joan Cusack is truly supportive, elevating the film (and the role) and is totally real; hitting notes both poignant and humerous that resonate with ease. Simply wonderful.

 

My 1988 Nominees:

 

My Pick: Joan Cusack in Working Girl

Sigourney Weaver in Working Girl

Katherine O'Hara in Beetlejuice

Uma Thurman in Dangerous Liasions

Karen Allen in Scrooged

 Amy Wright in The Accidental Tourist

 

 

                               Agree? Disagree? Tell me!

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Performance Profile: Frances McDormand in "Mississippi Burning" (1988)

"You believe the hatred. You live it...you breathe it. You marry it."

Its always a treat to find little surprises in overwrought/just bad films (Brenda Vaccaro, Maggie Smith, etc.) and when I find them I always try find what's the real goodness in it. Most greatly elevate the film and make something out of nothing (and we all know how many of those there are...), and standout for doing so when they did not necessarily have to. Such is the case for Frances McDormand, an actress who would soon become a respected, established Oscar-winner -- however even here, her dedication to her craft is evident, even with some drawbacks...

Her character, Mrs. Pell, is an incredibly underwritten, unfinished sketch of what could have been so much more than just a device to propel the story foreword. But even as that the role has little meat on its bones. She's the sheriff's wife who cannot stand to witness the racism happening around her; she represents/ pictures times when there was peace. McDormand conveys a swirl of emotions - the desperation, the pain, and the sadness all with humane integrity that shines. Her scenes are the few where the film pauses and takes a breather allowing McDormand to subtly craft a characterization out of the tid-bits provided. She communicates so much through tiny gestures and facial expressions that she could have no dialogue and still have a great effect.

The actress' trademark warmth is in full effect here, and she hangs on to what she has and you can see her working her ass off, trying to build on that. And while she does do some interesting work in a performance which maintains believability, honesty, and subtly throughout, this whole "sketch" idea runs through the character's veins and ends up taking over for the most part. Its not that I fault McDormand for not being better, but the script holds the reins and never truly develops the character, which is barely a character to begin with.

But, it is a great accomplishment and Frances does what I like best with the supporting ladies, so I don't wanna' be that hard on her. She might not always win against the film, but the effort of trying is something to appreciate.

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Blogger Help!!

Hey guys, I really need some help with this Blogger trouble I have been having for awhile now. Okay, so a few weeks back I switched over to the new blogs layouts (just to try on for size), then when I realized I just didn't like them and switched back to my original template a problem arose -- I could no longer access the "Design" on my Dashboard, because the button isn't there anymore (its now replaced with "Template"). I used "Design" to add side stuff and put pics on my header but I just have no idea what to do!

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Performance Profile: Michelle Pfeiffer in "Dangerous Liasions" (1988)

"I'm beginning to think you may have planned the whole exercise."
---

Roles of high demand are usually the ones that are ripe for much talk and are largely split when it comes to opinions. Because the character is written so well, the actor (usually) gets to show what they are capable of as a serious dramatic performer. But, this can also lead to trouble if such a role was not handled correctly, or is just in the wrong hands. Dangerous Liaisons is a feast of high class, complex characters, and requires some heavy duty working among its cast of players, and with Ms. Pfeiffer on board as a major asset, one would be expecting something amazing. I stand amazed, but not in the conventional way whatsoever.

Dangerous Liaisons is a film that I liked more than I thought I would before viewing and although it has a total "studio film" feel to it, the overall feel never gets to stuffy or cloying - somehow maintaining modesty/ The film follows two snobby (ex-lover) aristocrats (Malkovich and Close, both superb) in 1760 France and how they get pleasure from toying with the (love) lives of others and scheme around to get the most fun out of it. The bet between Valmont and Merteuil involves Valmont setting his sights on Pfeiffer's Madame de Tourvel and seducing her but with written proof. However, Tourvel remains distant and closed off from Valmont's advances and finds the attention unrespectable and awkward. Mme Tourvel is a role that's  brilliantly written with all sorts of complexities that would be fascinating when brought fully to life by an actress who would have a field day with what they have been given. Sadly, this is simply not the case with Pfeiffer's Tourvel at all.

This is a deeply complex woman who needed to be portrayed as such, but Michelle just never hooks onto that notion and ends up giving a cold, disconnected performance. Tourvel is a person who should be going through a journey of confusion, torment, love, and repressed feeling as she slowly begins to fall to Valmont and is constantly fighting with herself between what she wants and what is right. Yet Pfeiffer never provides the character with any genuine texture or emotional feeling, and not once did I see any kind of human beneath the beautiful but hollow shell of coldness. She never illuminates anything about Tourvel's conflict or inner life thats bubbling at the surface; I wanted to see the mysterious passion and desperation, and Pfeiffer never lets us in why she's so against being with Valmont.

When Pfeiffer gets the chance to make something great or redeem herself she just can't, as her facial expressions are blank with bold frustration and complete lack of understanding. I was so shocked just how she continually plays the character on the same flat note the entire time, and how the director never picked up on it and just let in slide. In fact, Mme Tourvel felt less a character than a boring device used to project mere exterior beauty. This, in turn, seriously drags down the whole film, and its a truly a unfortunatley missed oppurtunity to create a vivid, rich, emotionally compelling human being. But with a total misreading of the character and little direction, Pfeiffer's performance becomes a muddled mess of contrived feeling and no understanding.

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Performance Review: Cheri Oteri in "Dumb and Dumberer" (2003)

If there's one thing that can be said about comedy these days its that it can be plainly generic. What with the "frat pack" reusing ideas and characters and swirling their members into one (usually, there are exceptions) stinker after another. What film and the public needs now is a real comic firecracker that's just in there own league, like an Eve Arden for the '00s. What we need is a style of comedy that doesn't need a constant barrage of sex jokes/bathroom humor to appeal to an audience. What we need comes in the form of that criminally underused comedic presence that made SNL in the '90s so great. We simply need more of...

....Cheri Oteri in Dumb and Dumberer (2003)

In this hilarious prequel to Dumb and Dumber, Cheri Oteri plays Ms. Heller (aka The Lunch Lady) at a Providence high school in the late '80s.

The movie tells the story of how the stupid students Harry and Lloyd first met in high school and how they get mixed up with the scheming Ms. Heller and her lover Principal Collins (Eugene Levy at his best).

What the two have been doing, you see, is embezzling money from the school and have been involved in scam after scam for years. There latest scheme involves creating a fake "special needs" class so they will recieve a big fat check for some special grant, and then escape to Hawaii.

Ms. Heller then becomes the new teacher for the class, and tells Harry and Lloyd to recruit more special perople. While the plot is pretty lame (but occasionally very funny) and is just an average comedy at best, Oteri ends up spinning comedic gold from coal.

The role (just like every other in the movie) is extremely underwritten, and although there is little depth to the character, Oteri lifts this cut-out from the page and makes her the most interesting as well a total hoot. Oteri is a comedienne who's mere presence or her smallest gesture or expression can instigate big laughs. This, combined with some seriously killer comic timing, hilariously fresh line readings, and she's adorned with some pretty funny '80s warbrobe/makeup which makes Oteri's Keller a genuinely delightful treat.

Oteri establishes three main tracks in which she uses Ms. Heller's distress/pleasure to make for some high hilarity.

Whether she's having a little kinky foreplay with her dearly beloved....


....or panicking over the missing evidence....

....or just being a plain dimwitt...she's right on the money.

In fact, her ability to play dumb so well makes the character the perfect accomplice to Levy's wiser sleazebag. Ms. Heller is not a smart criminal at all  -- she's mostly a goofball who's just in a coup with her "monkey" -- and even though she is broadly written that way, Oteri (even with her boundless energy) never goes over the edge with her broad caricature.

Oteri gives the kind of performance that "steals" the movie, although she works seamlessly with Levy to generate some real belly laughs. She's the supporting actress you just cannot wait to see pop back on the screen again. It's the kind of overlooked work that happened to be in a film that, well, let's just say wasn't reviewed to well by the critics or public.

But that Cheri Oteri, in this little Friday-night-flick, uses her full set of gifts as a comedienne to elevate the light material and create a memorable character in the process, is somethin' awesome.

Click here to watch her performance!

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Upcoming Stuff!!

* First, is Michelle P's Dangerous Liaisons performance profile! I know its been literally forever but I'm going to wrap everything up soon!

* Performance Review of Marcia Gay Harden in Pollock (and if you have any other requests give me a shout out!)

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