Beauty vs Beast: Sibling Rivalries & Sexual Reveries
Monday, May 21, 2018 at 1:25PM Hello and happy Monday, everybody - Jason from MNPP here with another round of our "Beauty vs Beast" series! This week we're turning our eyes to the 20th anniversary of Don Roos' The Opposite of Sex, which is tomorrow. The film came out on May 22nd 1998, and all good gays (and gay-adjacents) have been quoting Christina Ricci's surly sexpot DeDee and Lisa Kudrow's snide spinster Lucia ever since. But what if I told you you had to choose??? That's not a hypothetical - I am actually asking you to choose. Right now!
PREVIOUSLY She might not have taken an Oscar earlier this year but Saoirse Ronan can comfort herself that she's now won one of these polls, I guess - her Hanna trounced Cate Blanchett with 70% of your vote. Said Lady Edith:
"Joe Wright gave Saoirse her start and then handed her Hanna which solidified her amazing talents. We get to see the whole range of emotions from her. No disrespect to Cate but I want Saoirse to win this and trounce her evil Mom."
Reader Comments (9)
Team Lucia b/c that's Lisa Kudrow as Lucia and that beats out even Christina Ricci as DeeDee. Well, in my book anyway
Lisa Kudrow is PERFECTION in this. I love her.
Two of the greatest acting performances of 1998, and it's genuinely hard to choose between them.
For one, Christina Ricci gives probably one of the top 4 or 5 greatest voice narrations ever put to film. Her extraordinary delivery of each line is simply pitch perfect. I'm amazed that she managed to find DeeDee and play her with such cunning, brutal wit and brazen sexuality that most other actresses twice her age couldn't muster without half the depth. But perhaps the best and most surprising hallmark of the performance is the underlying misery. I love how she never *totally* shows us a DeeDee that's having a blast in destroying lives. It makes her so much more human that she looks miserable and empty while doing everything she's doing. How many other less capable actresses would have shown us a less substantial DeeDee, played only with knowing smirks and too-pleased-with-themselves attitude? Genuinely curious, because I cannot believe Christina Ricci managed to do all of this at just 16 years old. Cripes.
And Lisa Kudrow...What a magician of an actress. I'm genuinely unsure as to how she lost out on a nomination despite being the most able dramedianne of 1998. I love how uncomfortable Kudrow manages to look, move and sound in her portrayal of Lucia. When I first watched this movie over ten years ago, This was one of the first performances that taught me about acting as a totally absorbed, fully conscious series of choices that performers make to inform the audience of who their characters are. She's just incredible.
On another note, I cannot think of more perfect pair of actresses to encapsulate what could have been in both races of the dire Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress lists of 1998. Well, we might as well post our lists :P
Best Actress 1998
-Katrin Cartlidge, Claire Dolan
-Anne Heche, Return to Paradise
-Christina Ricci, The Opposite of Sex
-Ally Sheedy, High Art
-Alfre Woodard, Down in the Delta
Best Supporting Actress
-Patricia Clarkson, High Art
-Kimberly Elise, Beloved
-Anne Heche, Psycho
-Lisa Kudrow, The Opposite of Sex
-Thandie Newton, Beloved
What a great year for actressing, though you'd never know it from the Kodak Theater.Of all the great years for performances not nominated, 1998 is the one wherein I truly struggle to choose a winner in my personal fantasy of Oscars-in both categories.
Have to give it to Lucia. They've both overbearing as hell, but at least Lucia's comes from a messed-up sense of protectiveness, right?
One of my favorite movies of all time, and Ricci's best performance in my opinion. I don't remember when exactly I first saw it -- but I never was the same again after that summer.
Lisa Kudrow because she's just a master and still doesn't get enough great parts in film, but this is one of Ricci's best performances without a doubt. (And more question than criticism, but doesn't she say "fuck tart"?)
AP -- re: "fuck tart" -- I'm not sure, I was going off of IMDb (which messes these things up often enough that I shouldn't ever) - I'll have to properly watch and see, thanks for the possible heads-up :)
i am basically lucia in real life but i'm voting for dede since she had sense enough to jump ivan sergei during his window of hotness
i am basically lucia in real life but i'm voting for dedee since she had sense enough to jump ivan sergei during his window of hotness
It's "fucked heart," guys. #TeamLucia but DeDe is A+.