A Newsletter about Kristen Wiig
Apparently she's not a Virgo?
This was meant to be a celebration of Kristen Wiig as the ultimate Virgo actress, but apparently she’s 29 degrees Leo. It doesn’t matter; I have too much to say. For a comprehensive guide to Virgos, see my NYLON explainer. For an unsolicited celebration of our most idiosyncratic actress, stay here.
It all begins with Wonder Woman 1984, a movie I cannot remember, featuring a performance I think about every single day. “I don’t want to be like anyone anymore. I want to be number one. An apex predator.” No matter how hard I meditate, nor how profound the ego deaths, the line reverberates from the gutters of my underworld, a demand to transcend this mortal coil, and grasp real power. In terms of archetypes, Cheetah is Wonder Woman’s inverse: where one governs her power through grace and love, the other indulges wanton savagery. I need my Kali incarnate to know what she’s doing. I have no doubt that Wiig could have gone full Michelle Pfeiffer in this role, had she not been ultimately subsumed in CGI Cats fur effects. Though the action is spectacular, the movie is gibberish, and if they’d given me one hour to fix the script, we’d be living in a feminist utopia. But alas. And yet, no matter how fast the plot implodes around her, Wiig is a focused vessel of intensity, desperation and decadence. If I ever meet her, I’ll shake her hand and tell her she’s a real one for what she did here.
The same goes for Ghostbusters, an unfairly maligned reboot from the shadow months preceding the 2016 election. Those of us who could read the augurs could see the dark animus rising around this release: backlash was back! Anyway, Wiig is a feminist filmmaker, and even if the studio pussied out with a bland final cut, she never compromises. Her friendship with Melissa McCarthy’s character feels real, and there’s a beautiful “saves the day” moment that gave me a lump in my throat. It’s nice to know you can still feel something after years of watching Jeremy Renner do nothing for no one every time. I suspect this movie’s reputation will grow, at least among lesbians. They usually take about 20 years to get onboard.
Onto Welcome to Me. If we in the Borderline community were a community, we’d surely invite Wiig to our conventions. “SOMEONE’S…BEEN TAMPERING…WITH MY MAKEUP BAG!” Another one that’s likely twenty years ahead of its time, a mental illness movie that the Oscars could never handle, because it’s too real. Borderline doesn’t promise redemption. Wiig isn’t afraid to explore the dark truth that victims can be perpetrators, that even the most pitiful can be cruel. This movie also has Joan Cusack and Jennifer Jason Leigh. I’m in for life.
As with the Skeleton Twins, an indie movie I don’t care about, Wiig defies Hollywood convention and doesn’t give us a traditional, campy, awards show clip. She’s too subtle, too restrained…too bleak. These performances deserve silent study and meditation from the viewer. Perhaps the average American potato person doesn’t deserve her. Maybe she should do more work in Norway.
Of course, if Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar is on Israeli TV, I’m in for the night. We know that Wiig can tear it as a feminist character actor in everything, even redeeming the otherwise egregious Zoolander 2. I feel nothing when watching Bridesmaids; it belongs to the J.A.P.s you see crying at 10pm on a Thursday in the East Village. But Barb and Star, the next collaboration from co-writers Wiig and Annie Mumolo, honors a bygone era of comedy, when movies had to actually be funny. Before the age of Vince Vaughan and, God help us, Zac Efron, actors had to do things to make people laugh. If you watch Scary Movie, Austin Powers, Romy & Michele’s High School Reunion or anything featuring Parker Posey, you’ll remember the days of candy-colored absurdist humor for the masses, what Jacqueline Novak describes as “a mainstream comedy that works.” Jamie Dornan is game for a good time. Barb and Star makes feminism look easy. Who knows how they got it made. I pray there’s more to come.
I’m not going to get into Mother! too much, but, suffice it to say, if you’ve always wanted to experience the A train in New York, you’re in luck!
Jennifer Lawrence is great. Being gay is great. Why am I writing this at 1:45am?