Holden trashes Johansson

email this story
read comments (25)
post a comment

"Because The Nanny Diaries is essentially a two-character story whose supporting players are wooden props, it would help if the actors playing the two were evenly matched. But Scarlett Johansson's Annie, who narrates the movie in a glum, plodding voice, is a leaden screen presence, devoid of charm and humor. With her heavy-lidded eyes and plump lips, Johansson may smolder invitingly in certain roles, but The Nanny Diaries is the latest in a string of films that suggest that this somnolent actress confuses sullen attitudinizing with acting." -- from Stephen Holden's 8.24 N.Y. Times review.

"Atonement" praise & rebuttals<< previous | next >>Chigurh is a ghost

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on August 24, 2007 at 12:24 AM

comment #1

BurmaShave says ...

Sounds like a certain movie I saw just last year. What was it called? I think Johnny Casper would have called it the Schmevil Wears Schmada! So can we expect an Oscar nomination for Laura Linney?

Posted by BurmaShave at August 24, 2007 1:43 AM

comment #2

EOTW says ...

Sounds like Holden's review is dead on about my attitude towards ScarJo. the girl is one of the most boring, sleep inducing actresses working. She's gorgeous, with a killer bod, no doubt. But she puts me to sleep with her stoned, Dunstlike walkthroughs in all of her films.

Posted by EOTW at August 24, 2007 2:29 AM

comment #3

insidah says ...

I don't get it. Since ScarJo was certainly not cast for her box office appeal, why the fuck didn't they give the role to an unknown? Someone with talent, perhaps. After these reviews and The Black Dahlia, I think it's time ScarJo and MelJo took a nice vacation away from Hollywood. We've seen what they've got and it ain't much.

Posted by insidah at August 24, 2007 6:58 AM

comment #4

Joel says ...

MelJo?

You can't just go around acronym-ing and expecting everyone to understand you!

Posted by Joel at August 24, 2007 7:27 AM

comment #5

Mike Ock says ...

She's just a horrible actress, who happens to be the flavor of the moment. She's the female equivelent of Ben Affleck ten hears ago, a media darling, with very little skill.

The more movies she appears in, the more obvious it is that she's got very limited range as an actress.

Great tits though.

Posted by Mike Ock at August 24, 2007 8:21 AM

comment #6

jesse says ...

I feel someone should step in and defend ScarJo (or the rest of her, anyway; her breasts are universally acclaimed).

She is definitely easy to miscast. And she looks miscast as the heroine of warmed-over chick-lit that (intentionally or not; I don't know what the filming schedules were like) seems to rip off a movie that wasn't very good to begin with. However:

--Her performances in Ghost World and Lost in Translation are excellent. A certain "type," yes, but that's not the same as an easy part. Think of how good the writing is in Ghost World, and how she holds up her end of the character; then think of how *thin* the writing in Lost in Translation is, and how she still creates a person there.

--She's funny. She's funny in Scoop (Woody's most underrated light comedy of the past decade or so), and she's been funny both times she's hosted SNL, especially the first episode she did. The "comedy" of The Nanny Diaries looks more like quasi-relatable straight-woman stuff, so I'm not hopeful. But she seems game when the material is there.

--Several of her performances are perfectly fine -- Match Point, The Prestige -- without being particularly striking. But she's not comically bad in any of them. Maybe her accent isn't great. But she didn't detract from The Prestige at all. Even Black Dahlia, which is a glorious cockeyed mess of a movie, doesn't really suffer from her so much as it suffers from De Palma seemingly not directing his actors much at all.

I won't vouch for her still having a career in ten or twenty years. But honestly, I don't know that, say, Anne Hathaway has done much more to impress me.

Posted by jesse at August 24, 2007 8:31 AM

comment #7

Mike Ock says ...

I think the reason people love her so much in Ghost World is cuz they couldn't stop looking at her tits. As for Lost In Translation, the opening shot of the movie was of her ass, and she's in quite a few scenes in her panties, so I think that's why people's judgement might be a little skewed.

The fact that in both movies she's playing opposite 2 unattractive middle aged men, probably has a lot to do with why critics fell in love with her in the first place. They saw themselves in the Buscemi and Murray roles.

Posted by Mike Ock at August 24, 2007 9:19 AM

comment #8

actionman says ...

I would like to have sex with ScarJo, which is why I enjoy watching her movies. Her acting skills are passable, not horrible in the slightest. She was excellent in In Good Company.

Posted by actionman at August 24, 2007 9:45 AM

comment #9

Mike Ock says ...

I think Jennifer Lopez would probably win an Oscar for her performance in a movie called Thong.

Posted by Mike Ock at August 24, 2007 9:49 AM

comment #10

EOTW says ...

Correction, actionman: NO ONE was excellent in In Good Company.

Posted by EOTW at August 24, 2007 10:11 AM

comment #11

James Leer says ...

ScarJo doesn't play opposite Steve Buscemi in Ghost World. That would be Thora Birch. And her tits were hardly being flaunted in that movie. Rather, I love her for her line delivery in the coffeehouse scene. "He doesn't even NEED that wheelchair."

Posted by James Leer at August 24, 2007 10:23 AM

comment #12

actionman says ...

agree to disagree EOTW...i normally don't like movies like In Good Company but I found the writing to be intelligent and funny, and all the performances were great, especially Topher and Quaid.

Posted by actionman at August 24, 2007 10:35 AM

comment #13

jesse says ...

Mike Ock, I can't speak for everyone, but I know that while I noticed her being pretty in Ghost World, I didn't really notice her chest. It's not prominently displayed in that movie.

Lost in Translation, OK, yes, it's hard not to think of her in her underwear in that movie. But if she was really terrible, the movie wouldn't work as well it did. Your reasoning that people liked her performance because she's pretty and scantily clad seems kind of silly. I mean, Jessica Alba looked smoking hot in Into the Blue but that didn't result in sterling reviews.

And James Leer is correct in that she doesn't play opposite Buscemi in Ghost World -- she has like three scenes with him and may not actually ever made direct contact with his character. "He's just totally lazy."

Posted by jesse at August 24, 2007 10:41 AM

comment #14

MilkMan says ...

Mike Ock nailed it. She successfully faked being attracted to Bill Murray, who looks like half of the movie reviewers in America. Of course, all of them are missing the important ingredients that make Bill Murray Bill Murray, mainly his intelligence, his sense of humor, and his carefully constructed persona. As far as I can tell, Scar Jo likes the pretty boy type, the Jan-Michael Hartnetts and the Patrick Wilsons, so the odds of her actually wanting to gas up with a Roeper are pretty close to nil, and I think the reviewers are starting to pick up on this, which could be a reason for the backlash. Personally, I think she's a vacuum. Last weekend I watched Sleeping Dogs Lie, and the star of that movie, Melinda Page Hamilton, is ten times hotter than Scar Jo, not that anyone would ever agree with me, or, for that matter, cast her in a movie with such a classy pedigree as The Nanny Diaries.

Posted by MilkMan at August 24, 2007 11:01 AM

comment #15

MilkMan says ...

That was kind of gross what I said about Melinda Page Hamilton. What I should've said was that she is ten time the actress that Scar Jo is, which she is. I suggest everyone rent Sleeping Dogs Lie. It's very funny and nicely directed by Bobcat. I was kind of suprised how sweet it was and how honest it was about relationships. There are a couple of turns in the plot that seem a little too easy, but what are you going to do. Save your money; don't see The Nanny Diaries. Pony up the 17.99 a month for Netflix or Greencine and rent Sleeping Dogs Lie or The Bridge or The Doctor, The Tornado, and The Kentucky Kid.

Posted by MilkMan at August 24, 2007 11:09 AM

comment #16

Ortega says ...

I just visited the Yahoo main page in Spanish and it actually touts ScarJo as "the next Mary Poppins." Jesus wept...

Posted by Ortega at August 24, 2007 12:29 PM

comment #17

BurmaShave says ...

Seriously, who the fuck is MelJo?

Posted by BurmaShave at August 24, 2007 2:37 PM

comment #18

BurmaShave says ...

Is THE DOCTOR, THE TORNADO & THE KENTUCKY KID one movie? If so, I'm there.

Posted by BurmaShave at August 24, 2007 2:40 PM

comment #19

lipranzer says ...

I just saw the movie this morning. I'm normally a fan of Scarlett Johansson. I think in her best performances (Manny & Lo, Lost in Translation, Ghost World, In Good Company), she projects a combination of self-posession and vulnerability, plus she has that throaty voice and those eyes that seem to be searching for something, and deflecting people from looking too far into her. However, she is human and can't play anything. She was awful trying to play Woody Allen in Scoop, and she's wildly uneven here. Part of the problem is the movie plays the comedy very broadly (surprising, since it was adapted by the filmmakers who did American Splendor, which you can't accuse of being too broad), and Johansson isn't good at that type of comedy. She's got some good scenes with the little kid, and her scene at the climax *SPOILER* when she's been fired, and the little boy is screaming after her as she's being driven away, the way she processes that is very good acting. *END SPOILER* But her character is an awkward fit. Laura Linney is the only one who has something to work with in this movie (though it must be said Alicia Keys is credible even though she's stuck with a nothing part).

Posted by lipranzer at August 24, 2007 3:57 PM

comment #20

MilkMan says ...

The Doctor, The Tornado and The Kentucky Kid is indeed one movie. A doc. About MotoGP. Narrated by Ewen MacGregor. Directed by Mark Kneale, who also made No Maps For These Territories, the doc about William Gibson. I know a doc about MotoGp sounds kind of dry, but the movie is fascinating. I didn't know anything about MotoGP. This movie told me everything I need to know. The movie is immaculately edited and the camerawork is spectacular.

Posted by MilkMan at August 24, 2007 4:11 PM

comment #21

bfm says ...

Jeff, while it's interesting to read these soundbites, I'd really like to hear what YOU think of the movies. Maybe I missed them, but I don't remember reading your reviews of 3:10 to Yuma (other than Foster's performance) and The Invasion, but of which you've mentioned seeing. Instead we just get edited snippets of other people's reactions. One of the reasons that I read this column is to get your take on stuff.

Posted by bfm at August 24, 2007 4:21 PM

comment #22

bfm says ...

...sorry, should have used preview. BOTH of which you've mentioned seeing.

Posted by bfm at August 24, 2007 4:24 PM

comment #23

Terry McCarty says ...

MelJo is Melanie, Scarlett's Stage Mom and controller of her career.

Posted by Terry McCarty at August 25, 2007 11:38 AM

comment #24

Terry McCarty says ...

jesse wrote:
She is definitely easy to miscast. And she looks miscast as the heroine of warmed-over chick-lit that (intentionally or not; I don't know what the filming schedules were like) seems to rip off a movie that wasn't very good to begin with.

Actually, she and NANNY DIARIES are better than I thought they'd be, but the film's no masterpiece.

The stylistic touches here and there remind me that the film was the work of the couple who did AMERICAN SPLENDOR--but NANNY DIARIES in its current form was clearly influenced by Harvey--who wanted a Garry Marshall-esque comedy/drama and got one.

Posted by Terry McCarty at August 25, 2007 11:43 AM

comment #25