Monster (2003)

A dark tale based on the true story of Aileen Wuornos (Charlize Theron), one of America's first female serial killers. Wuornos had a difficult and cruel childhood plagued by abuse and drug use in Michigan. She became a prostitute by the age of thirteen, the same year she became pregnant. She eventually moved to Florida where she began earning a living as a highway prostitute--servicing the desires of semi-truck drivers. The tale focuses on the nine month period between 1989 and 1990, during which hilarity ensued and Wuornos had a lesbian relationship with a woman named Selby (Christina Ricci). And during that very same time, she also began murdering her clientele in order to get money without using sex. This turned the tables on a rather common phenomena of female highway prostitutes being the victims of serial killers--instead Wuornos, herself, carried out the deeds of a cold-blooded killer.

Trivia: Charlize Theron gained 30 pounds for her role in the film. Christina Ricci gained about 10 pounds for her role. Aileen Wuornos, a notoriously uncooperative person, gave director Patty Jenkins access to hundreds of letters she had written and received in order to gain insight into Aileen's life. The biker bar scenes were filmed at "the Last Resort" - a bar frequented by the real life Aileen Wuornos, and the site where she was actually arrested. The bar owner (who capitalized on Wuornos' infamy by hanging a sign out in front of the bar advertising "cool beer and Killer Women") makes a cameo as the bartender who threatens to cut off Wuornos for being over her tab limit.

This is one of a string of movies from the early part of this decade that got it's beautiful lead actress an Oscar for playing a darker "ugly" role (see Halley Berry in Monster's Ball, Nicole Kidman in The Hours, and to an extent, Hillary Swank in Million Dollar Baby). Now I know why Theron got it, because she deserved it. She really transformed herself into Aileen Wuornos. Only a few times did I sit there and think, "wait a minute, that is Chalize Theron." (basically, it was the times that you could tell she was struggling with her false teeth). But Theron's performance wasn' the only great performance. Christina Ricci was very good as Aileen's young, naive lesbian lover. It was a good contrast to Theron's streetwise, jaded hooker.