I haven’t written in ages. My schedule has exploded into a fit of chaos lately, so writing for my personal blog has become quite the non-existent luxury. But I figured I’d write a little bit, especially since it’s on my mind right now.
My critical writing class has to review The Devil Wears Prada this week. I honestly do not like this movie. I think the plotline is boring, most of the characters are flat, and I find myself wondering why I should have to sit through 109 minutes of Anne Hathaway being irritating and boring.
And that’s what I want to rant about, Anne Hathaway, NOT The Devil Wears Prada.
I know that a lot of people adore her– my roommate and I got into a very heated debate about Hathaway’s abilities last year. We had to agree to disagree because I refused to budge on my opinion, and my roommie (her name’s Anne. Maybe that’s why she’s so adamant?) couldn’t fathom calling her a bad actress.
I get that reaction from a lot of people. And many tell me to check out Rachel Getting Married. I’ve seen Rachel Getting Married. Kym was an amazing role, but it was in the wrong hands. However, people seem overwhelmingly surprised that Hathaway was so much better in this than she is in other films, that they mistook mediocrity for superiority.
I don’t have anything personal against Anne Hathaway. She’s very pretty. And she generally picks good roles: Kym, Ella in Ella Enchanted, Lureen in Brokeback Mountain. But she flattens them, and suddenly they all become the same person. That’s not good acting. Good acting is when one person becomes all those characters. Just ask Heath Ledger (or…well… I guess you can’t ask him. So I guess ask Johnny Depp).
I think it’s the way she talks that annoys me the most. Her lips are very tight, or she purses them when she talks, trying to make it seem like what she’s saying is bursting out of her nonchalantly (rather than being recited dryly). But her eyes and the rest of her face seem so stagnant. Where as actresses like Meryl Streep can convey two very different emotions with just a subtle blink, Hathaway relies on her mouth to convey happiness, anger, and any other emotion.
She does have a way with accents though. I will give her that. Audiences first saw this in Brokeback Mountain. When I first saw the film, I thought that Hathaway was amazing, and I began to reconsider my opinions of her. But I stopped soon after I started. Beyond her accent, Hathaway didn’t really add to the part. The character was so well written, like most of the movie, that she just allowed the writing and her accent be her only contribution. Sure, she was allowing the writing to shine through, but actors need to bring charisma and personality to the character, not just a voice. The next time I saw the movie, I knew it even more. Lureem had the potential of a complex and intriguing character. But there was little nuance in the performance to add intrigue to the woman who married a closeted gay man because she was pregnant. Just compare Hathaway’s performance to Michelle Williams’s. You’ll see the difference. There’s a sadness and intrigue that Williams has that Hathaway lacks.
I do hope that I will see an Anne Hathaway film one day that makes me go, “Wow. Hell, Anne Hathaway can act.” But until I see her subtly control her beautiful facial features– they are beautiful– and find a new way to deliver a line (without an accent), I will have to stick to my belief that she’s little more than a gorgeous, mediocre actress.
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My Intro to Film 
I loved her in Get Smart. There, I said it. I thought she was hilarious and while all of her lines were written well, it was her delivery more often than not that made me laugh. However…….. I don’t think I’ve enjoyed her in a single other movie. She generally irritates me.
Comment by Katie 31 March 2010 @ 12:36 pm[…] always criticized Hathaway as an actress. She’s very limited in her skills and seems to always play the same person even […]
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