Theron's 'Monster' of a performance

Watching the Oscars last week, I simply couldn't take my eyes off Charlize Theron. Long-limbed, tanned to perfection and statuesque in every sense of the word, Theron simply radiated all the stuff the Oscars are made of: glamour and a little glitz, but in a way that's never over the top or excessive. Watching Theron accept the Best Actress honor for her work in "Monster," I found it difficult to believe that this was the same woman who packed on more than 40 pounds and underwent hours of heavy makeup and costuming to completely immerse herself in the role of a lesbian serial killer and ex-prostitute.\nWhen buzz began circulating months ago about Theron's latest project, I was admittedly surprised: no actress since Renée Zellweger in "Bridget Jones's Diary" or Julia Roberts in "Erin Brokovich" had tackled such a decidedly radical departure from her everyday persona. I was curious: I wondered if Theron had the acting chops to compensate for such altering of that famous face. Without her trademark features and virtually disguised as killer Aileen Wuornos, I wondered, would the South African celeb deliver?\nAs it turned out, I needn't worry; not only was Theron's performance stunning, beautiful and disturbingly haunting all at once, the Academy recognized -- finally -- that the kid can act. Glimpsing her in the audience at the Oscars immediately after a clip from the controversial "Monster" was like seeing a complete metamorphosis, however, and it gave me pause. In a Vogue interview last summer, in an issue in which she in fact graced the cover -- more than a few pounds heavier and just as lovely -- Theron admitted that her boyfriend, actor Stuart Townshend, loved the extra weight. And why shouldn't he, she wondered?\nPerhaps because the bottom line in Hollywood seems to center on sex and skin and just precisely how a combination of the two can make a potentially mediocre movie explode. \nLook at Tara Reid, a B-list (at best) teen flick actress whose best accomplishments to date seem to be partying with Paris Hilton, being that sweet Kevin kid's reluctant virgin girlfriend in "American Pie" and boasting protruding hipbones which could gouge out the eyes of any unsuspecting paparazzi (not necessarily in that order). Reid sure as hell can't act, but tickets move for her movies, something I'll chalk up to the cropped shirts and low-slung Seven jean skirts. \nTheron, however, has perpetuated the emerging reality that yes, some actresses possess that certain something which enables them to take on physically altering, and at times disfiguring, roles in the name of good cinema. Speaking of the real-life Wuornos to the Associated Press shortly before the film's release, Theron said "everything that she lived through she carried in her face, and carried all this tension in her mouth, and carried in the way she staggered and spoke and used her eyes to underline what she felt." In short, this woman was real. She wasn't picture-perfect, and didn't expect or need to be: hers was a tale of survival, of the bare, gritty kind of struggle. And in opting to pursue the role of such a "Monster," Theron proved that, it itself, could be the ultimate poignant journey.