Charlize Theron: Beautiful to the Bone

Charlize Theron plays the evil queen in this weekend’s SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN. And make no mistake, Charlize is the star of this movie. She is so beautiful and gets so much screen time, the movie should really be called THE EVIL QUEEN. Now I know why she was cast in the role, because she carries the film to a higher level as Charlize has done with most of the motion pictures she’s been in. Her beauty and talent is always center stage, whether she’s playing a queen, heroine, comedienne or monster.

Charlize’s stunning good looks have always threatened to overshadow her acting chops. My first blush with the actress was 2 DAYS IN THE VALLEY co-starring James Spader. Charlize is very young, very hot and in one love scene very naked. One of her talents beyond the obvious is that she will give everything to a movie role – even if it calls for looking ugly in front of the camera. Her Oscar-winning portrayal of a female serial-killer in MONSTER was an acting tour de force. Charlize was virtually unrecognizable in the part, but it wasn’t so much make-up and prosthetics than her ability to lose herself in a character. I was stunned when I saw the movie – as was virtually everyone who went in expecting to see the beautiful blonde and came out in awe of her talent.

Charlize tried on another challenging role this year with the very funny YOUNG ADULT. Again, she carried the movie with her portrayal of a developmentally-arrested woman who returns to her small town to reclaim her old flame – even though he’s married and has a baby. Once again, Charlize was playing off her glamor and arresting good looks to comedic effect. But the role seemed ill-fitted for Charlize, when you consider how funny she is naturally. Diablo Cody’s stylized dialogue seemed forced compared to when I’ve seen Charlize ad-libbing on Saturday Night Live and on FUNNY OR DIE skits where she is not only gorgeous but hilarious at the same time. Actually, these shorts were a revelation and made me fall in love with Charlize all over again. I highly recommend you check them out if you are remotely infatuated with the statuesque actress.

Charlize is at the end of the day a true movie star. Her looks are arresting, her talent awe-inspiring and her courage before the camera admirable. I think there are very few roles circling Hollywood these days that she could not tackle and win over an audience. She did this in SNOW WHITE, but once again the material was sub-par compared to Charlize’s amazing performance. How do I know this? Because whenever she isn’t on screen, I find myself sitting there in the dark waiting for her to return. I want her in every scene, because when she’s not the movie drags simply due to her absence. And that’s how I can tell when a woman is more than the sum of her individual parts. That’s how I know Charlize is and always will be beautiful to the bone.