Uma Thurman: Negative Contact
Call me crazy, but I’ve never really gotten the appeal of Uma Thurman. She’s nice-looking, I guess, and seems like an okay actress. I like a girl who can handle a sword. But the weird, strangely long-lived “Uma’s the best performer and the most beautiful woman EVER OF ALL TIME” cult movement has pretty much escaped me (Ladies, confirm or deny: Men love Uma. Women…don’t. Y/N?). But it seems clear that a) nobody asked me, and b) somebody in Hollywood (okay, someone besides Quentin Tarantino) must be into her; she’s got not one, but two movies coming out in the foreseeable future:
I think this trailer, aside from illustrating the state of the postmodern romantic comedy, brings up the crux of the Uma issue for me: Does she seem like the kind of woman who might be able to pull off a radio show about relationships? Sure. I’ll buy that. Does she seem like the kind of woman who deserves to have two good guys chasing her? Yes. Do I want to be friends with this woman? Not at all. And that’s key to a good chick flick: if the chicks in the audience don’t identify or even want to identify with the chick on the screen, something’s amiss (see also: Swank, Hilary). And anyway, are we really to believe that Colin Firth should be the loser here? I don’t buy it.
This one is, by all accounts, a really good movie, the kind of thing that might turn up on next year’s Oscar nomination lists. It’s hard to tell from the trailer, but it seems to me that the patented Uma Cool might be on purpose here. Are we supposed to like this woman, or does it even matter? If the answer to either of those is no, I applaud the person who made that casting decision, even as I’m doubtful about a protagonist who can’t connect with half the audience. Maybe somebody can make use of that particular lack of chemistry, and if so, I want to see it. I want to see why people love her. I’m ready to be convinced. (Also, Evan Rachel Wood skips “coldly indifferent” and goes straight to “skeevy.” Sorry.)
Uma Thurman, The Life Before Her Eyes, The Accidental Husband, Quentin Tarantino, Colin Firth, Evan Rachel Wood
April 30th, 2008 at 8:48 am
I don’t know. I don’t even think she’s nice looking but she’s very striking and she’s strange and spunky. That’s appealing to me but I’m weird.