We watched the movie Monster last night.

While the acting by Theron was quite excellent, and I can see where she got the Oscar, the movie was kind of a bomb. I mean, sure, it was interesting because it actually happened (based on a true story and all that), but…the storyline was draggy and didn’t move along. There were a ton of parts where they could have made it really profound but the director either skipped right over it or made an attempt at it and failed horribly. The highs weren’t high enough, etc.

It was one of those movies where you wanted desperately to identify with the Theron’s monstrous character despite her evilness, but in the end, your stomach just ended up turning and you didn’t really connect with her at all. You know, that whole, “Oh, but in a crazy world, her actions made sense — FOR LOVE.” Instead, you just sit there and shake your head and/or cringe.

Ricci was ok, but nothing great. I don’t think it was necessarily her fault for most of it (although there was one or two times where she was clearly NOT there for the scene — supposed to be a height of emotion, but who could tell?), but mostly she was working with a shoddy script that didn’t give her character the depth it deserved.

So….A for the acting of Theron, B- for Ricci, C- for the cinematography, D for the story.