The CampChuck Reviewer

There are special pinnacles of appreciation saved for ugly.

Mo’Nique (the stage name of Monique Imes) may be known as a comedian and talk show host. After March 7, 2010, she will be best known as an Oscar winning Best Supporting Actress, one who risked playing a vile, lashing-out creature
of a mother.

Encased in that performance is a woman whose compensating image of herself swirls in a toilet of poverty and abuse, thrashed self-esteem, and you might say, a sorely lacking set of life skills.

Mo’Nique anchors the film Precious, a world where ugly is a powerful but misappropriating word.

Back to beautiful, Penelope Cruz was cast in the film Nine to play sexy and attractive. She is well cast.

Deservedly a dud at the box office, Nine does manage to give the Cruz character some interesting weakness and vulnerability to play. Still, the part’s a letdown after Cruz’s Oscar winning turn in Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Her nomination in Nine does keep her star shining as long as she does roles like the one in Broken Embraces (also a 2009 film).

Also, incidental to the Best Supporting Actress consideration, Maggie Gyllenhaal plays a reporter, a single mom, and the love interest of the Jeff Bridges character in Crazy Heart.

Gyllenhaal is incidental not because she isn’t solid in the role. It’s just that this movie is all about the Jeff Bridges character, and it’s a fairly ordinary film anyway. While Bridges deserves to enjoy all the attention he is getting for his portrayal, there’s little else to really talk about in Crazy Heart.

Canceling each other out of any chance of winning Best Supporting Actress, both Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick keep the chemistry with George Clooney popping in Up in the Air.

Attractive in an overachieving, get-on-your-nerves kind of way, the problem with Anna Kendrick’s character is that she gets on your nerves. While this somewhat obvious quality speaks well of Kendrick’s acting, she seems like more of a distraction from enjoying George Clooney in Up in the Air than an up and coming talent. To be fair, Kendrick helps keep the substance and fun in this film moving. It’s just nothing special as Oscar fodder

Vera Farmiga, on the other hand, infuses Up in the Air with the best texture that this well made but overrated film has to offer. Maybe it feels this way because her character equals George Clooney’s in manipulative professionalism and charm. She enhances the flavor of Clooney.

For Oscar consideration, Farmiga is caught in the middle. Her role plays like a lead but gets stepped on by Kendrick’s prominence in the plot dynamics. No matter, Mo’Nique is a lock to win the statue.