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Among Friends |
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| Women like us Holy Moly, Meryl! Good Golly, Ms. Holly! Gosh a' Mighty, Glenn! Kudos, Kyra! It's a great summer for strong actresses playing strong women who, whether we know it or not, reflect a lot about you and me. Streep, Hunter, Close and Sedgwick were early bloomers who long ago achieved professional success and, along the way, became working wives and mothers. But like so many middle-aged actresses, no matter how famous or talented, their on-screen careers hit a wall when they hit 40. Hollywood has traditionally offered actresses just three kinds of roles -- babe, district attorney or "Driving Miss Daisy," as described in the line made famous in the "First Wives Club." Female producers and cable networks such as TNT, FX, HBO and Showtime have ditched those stereotypes and have been rewarded with hit prime-time shows acclaimed by both critics and audiences. Now these 40-ish and 50-something heroines with checkered pasts and complicated presents are having a knockout summer of award nominations and boffo box-office receipts. Oscar-winner Streep's ridiculously silly, fabulously fun "Mamma Mia!" is the season's "if you feel bad, see this one" hit movie. Its buzz continues to draw big audiences charmed by its sing-along ABBA music, dazzling Greek Isles scenery and "let the good times roll" musical energy. I've seen it twice and have come out of the theater both times feeling happy, uplifted and at least 20 years younger. Several times, the audience around me broke into spontaneous applause, and silhouetted against the screen down in front I saw viewers swaying in their seats to ABBA's hum-along tunes. Hunter, Close and Sedgwick are Emmy nominees for their starring roles in, respectively, TNT's "Saving Grace," FX's "Damages," and TNT's "The Closer." These cable divas whipsaw us from devious office politics to cold-blooded revenge to street violence, taking us from zero to 100 in 60 minutes, less commercials. Hunter's complex character is particularly self-destructive and vulnerable, as tough as her always-loaded police revolver, yet as soft as a doting aunt. Always on a knife's edge, detective Grace Hanadarko rails at Earl, her plaid-shirted angel sent to convert her to a God she doesn't believe in. She solves murder cases with an eye-for-an-eye style and leaves us agape at her daring, uninhibited eroticism that involves lots of mustard on the kitchen floor. Sedgwick's southern belle police chief is a gumbo of charm and snakebite who never seems uncertain with her badge on but dithers incessantly when it comes to personal commitments. Close's portrayal of a lawyer seemingly without a conscience is as chilling and mesmerizing as a cobra's stare. Each week she takes her mesmerized audience deeper into her dark heart and manipulative mind. These shows are a big reason TV viewers are abandoning network pablum to go along on the cable heroine's bumpy, gritty rides. I watch not only to be entertained, but to analyze my reaction to these opinionated, accomplished, take-no prisoners actresses/producers/wives/mothers. Analyzing their motives and respones to crises make me feel less isolated and weird because of my own indecisions and false steps. Theirs are not cookie-cutter characters, walk-on high-fashion mannequins babbling in sound bites and then exiting, stage left, into perfect lives. Their characters make self-inflicted mistakes like I do. They get into messes and then, also like I do, learn lessons by going where they have to go to get out of them. Like me, they're emotionally flawed characters at the peak of their professional powers but still awkward amateurs at personal relationships, sometimes-cynics whose hungry hearts occasionally make them bad judges of character. Like me, they're struggling to find the true north of their moral compasses, self-awareness of their own sexuality and inner peace through spiritual certainty. Streep, Hunter, Close and Sedgwick give us chances to explore ourselves through their characters if we're willing to do the required heavy lifting. |
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