From the slums to the scums

Tomei as Rita in the Slums of Beverly Hills.

Tomei as Cassidy in The Wrestler performing for the scums.

Following the Golden Globe buzz about The Wrestler, I wanted to see the movie because I heard Mickey Rourke's portrayal as Randy 'The Ram' Robinson was phenom. Well that was the first reason but the real reason I shelled out the $13.00 was to see Marisa Tomei.

Ahh, Marisa Tomei. I have had a girl crush on her since she played Julie, the pathetic girlfriend of the womanizing Jude Law in Alfie. Of course she was great in My Cousin Vinny where she won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, while her foul mouth was entertaining it was not girl-crush worthy. In Alfie she is the girl that every girl can sympathize with, the believing and trusting girlfriend to a guy who is not deserving.

But does she deserve the recent Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Performing Role? While I think she did do a great job in The Wrestler, I felt cheated as I constantly wanted to see more of her and wanted more out of her than the script allowed. I don't think her performance can compare to another one of my girl crushes, Angelina Jolie in Girl Interrupted (who won in 1999) or Cate Blanchett's amazing Katherine Hepburn in The Aviator (2004). I am happy for her second nomination, but I certainly don't think it is in the bag for her.

I do, however, commend her for being one foxy lady at the age of 44. She is superbly sexy and smoking as a stripper in her latest role and I even started licking my lips like her since she did it so well as 'Cassidy'. Her first day on set she was nearly nude and doing the lap dance for ragin' Rourke (rumoured to have been on steroids for the role). Although she plays a washed up stripper, I am sure that millions of men would pant at the chance to have her do a private dance for them.

Her role in The Wrestler did seem slightly reminiscent of the salacious sexpot she played in the 1999 Slums of Beverly Hills. Rita Abromowitz was her character and she was a cousin who rolled into town fresh out of rehab and ready to rock. She taught her precocious younger cousin the ways of the dildo in a hilarious scene.

But perhaps her most famous scene was the one she caused when she won the Oscar in 1992, when a (seemingly drunk) Jack Palance announced her as the winner without saying the list of nominees causing people to wonder whether she really won it. Here's to another year of Academy Awards and Tomei without any oversights . . .