I never saw Mermaids or The Hard Way, so my first impression of Christina Ricci was her mordant embodiment of little Wednesday in The Addams Family movies, marking her instantly as a Goth-y cool successor to the Winona Ryder of Beetlejuice and Heathers.
In the great high school of the entertainment industry, Ricci always seemed like one of the rebel kids in the corner, making wry wisecracks about the vapid popular girls, dating hipster misfits like Adam Goldberg and charting a course through an impressive array of cult classics, interesting flops and mainstream hits as a smart, sexy actress with indie cred to burn.
And then, I watched her Tuesday night appearance on Leno.
Now, I understand it must be hard living your entire life in the spotlight, surrounded by the beautiful people of Hollywood while constantly reading about yourself as an “offbeat beauty.” She’s often complained of her giant forehead, she’s battled anorexia and, as I only just read here on the Screengrab, she disliked her appearance so much at one point “that she covered all the mirrors in her house,” shades of her pig-snouted character in Penelope.
So, yes, I know enough about basic female psychology to understand that sometimes even the rebel chick in the corner may secretly yearn to be one of the popular girls, and there’s nothing wrong with going cheerleader blonde and playing up your glamorous side...
...but, egad, Christina, please don’t turn into just another Beverly Hills bobble-head! I mean, maybe her screen persona has always been more interesting than her talk show persona, but I had to go back and re-watch the Leno appearance to see if her interview about her shoe closet and her O.C.D. luggage-packing habits was really as vapid and boring as I remembered. (It was.)
And Christ a’mighty, that Speed Racer clip they screened was horrible, and Christina was horrible in it. I mean, we're talking Sci-Fi Channel original movie horrible. Sure, I know it’s a children’s flick and the visuals POP! But the preview of Christina’s Trixie making goo-goo eyes at Emile Hirsch’s tree-sappy Speed Racer made me yearn for the electrifying screen presence of Jessica Simpson as Daisy Duke.
Here’s hoping for better when XtinaRic teams with charisma powerhouse...egad...Orlando Bloom in New York, I Love You.
