(rated R)
A true story starring an unrecognizable Charlize Theron in an extremely difficult film to watch, about Aileen Wuornos, a monster, alcoholic, foul-mouthed, man-hating prostitute convicted and sentenced to death for shooting six Florida johns. On the other hand we have the only person Aileen ever loved – Selby Ward (Christina Ricci) an angel faced lesbian sent by her parents to live with her religious aunt and uncle in hopes of ‘curing’ her lesbian tendencies. Aileen dreams of being a famous movie star. She grows up to become famous alright, but her idea of famous is a bit different than ours. Theron does for this movie what Hillary Swank did for “Boys Don’t Cry” but while we felt bad for Swank’s or even Eminem’s underdog character in “8 Mile”, Theron’s character never cares about herself so why should we? Instead we are voyeuristically curious, sitting in the audience in some demented character study of her sexual pranks and drug induced experiences. Her message continually narrates “all we need is love and to believe in yourself”. But for us, the message translates to Aileen is her own worst enemy. The revelation in this film is that under no circumstance did Theron’s character (the first woman serial killer) ever feel sorry for herself. She believed in what she was doing and even infused a sense of humor, which in turn released her from being a victim of society. Certainly the best and most appropriately titled film of the year. And Theron’s best performance to date.
