Her filmography is pockmarked with a What's What of Bad Flicks. From The Program, to The Flinstones, from Bulworth, to Gothika, to the dreaded B.A.P.S. If it's criminally turrible, she probably was listed somewhere in the credits. No movie illustrates this point more than Berry's career climax (literally), 2001's Monster's Ball.
Don't worry, this clip is the movie trailer and completely safe for work!!!
I only watched this movie once, in the theaters, so my recollection of it is a bit hazy. Still, the cast was star studded. Billy Bob Thornton plays a racist correctional officer who along with his son (Heath Ledger) is slated to assist in the execution of Berry's baby daddy (played by a youthfully amateurish P. Diddy), a convicted murderer who's Stranded On Death Row.
When Berry's morbidly obese child stumbles into the street and is killed by a passing car. Thornton just happens to be driving by, and takes Berry and her son to the hospital. A grief-stricken affair of convenience develops, until Berry and Thornton discover their collective link. Clocking in at 112 minutes, it was just as boring as my synopsis makes it sound.
Let's cut to the chase: the only thing even remotely memorable about this poorly paced and overhyped film is Berry and Thornton's hot bucked nekkid love scene. The racial implications of this scene in an otherwise forgettable movie, and Berry's subsequent Best Actress award have been discussed ad nauseum, so I won't bother rehashing here.
What's amazing is how such an amazing assembly of talent could add up to such a doddering, boring film. In addition to Berry, Thornton, and Ledger was Peter Boyle and Mos Def. But much like the 2003-4 Lakers, the whole is far less than the sum of its parts.
Despite how truly crappy the flick was, the Oscar allowed Berry to cross over into realm of megastar, and now she's got the ability to get even worse films greenlit. We can thank Monster's Ball and it's inexplicable success for such cinematic crap as Catwoman, Perfect Stranger, and Things We Lost in the Fire.
And the world was truly a better place.
Question: Did you think Halle Berry deserved an Oscar for Monster's Ball? Did the "love scene" disturb you? Do you think she sold out?
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you forgot about Baps or Babs or whatever that hot-garbage was called...
i'l have to say thgouh that I actually liked Bulworth...
@Dok...I was going to mention B.A.P.S.!!! Nah, she didn't hardly deserve her Oscar. Every time I say that people say I'm hating on her. She's a gorgeous woman, I'll give her that...but she is not a good actress. It goes to show that you should never let a lack of talent stop you from living your dream. I don't blame her...I blame whatever bodies voted for her--or however they pick the winners (that's always the part where I leave to get refreshments)
this was an F-ing atrocity b'c of halle and especially b'c of the scene which i refuse to describe as a love scene. i have never seen an x-rated movie/ porn flick in my life but i thought i was watching one when i went to see this film in the theatres. i was appalled/ embarrased and humiliated as a black woman. one of my husband's biggest pet peeves is when black women do nude scenes in movies. hollywood pays them more when they do but their intergrity is thereafter shot. i wholeheartedly agree. halle took it way beyond just nude with this "display" with a white man of all people. i'm still dusgusted to this day at her and at the academy for recognizing this as worthy of the first black female leading actress oscar. it said to the world that black actresses have no chance at winning unless they get pulvarized on camera.
I didn't see the movie and really don't want to. That being said there had to be some other movies she was in that would have given her an Oscar. How about Introducing Dorothy Dandridge? I thought that was a good movie.
Of course she deserves the OSCAR. The Love scene is what took it over the top. At that point in the movie you say, WOW. She is really going to work. Billy Bob was strokin' for real. I mean that mess looked real. And that's what makes it oscar worthy. They looked like they was bone-in' for real.
Without that scene, she doesn't win. Period. And you ain't even trying to pretend that you didn't want that role from Billy Bob.
Halle deserved an Oscar for not punching Adrian Brody in the face when he stuck his disgusting tongue down her throat on stage in front of millions at the Academy Awards.
I will say this about Halle though; she plays a crackhead (Jungle Fever, Losing Isaiah) really, really well.
She didn't deserve an Oscar. I've been saying this for a long time. I had previously found very few who shared my viewpoint. I thought this movie had her in the same role she likes to accept....a crack head mom. I felt it was like giving her an Ocsar for the role she played in 'Losing Isaiah'...WTF?
I wasn't disturbed by the love scene. The race of Billy Bob didn't bother me, would people still be offended if the lead character had been played by a Black man? Is it the act of intimacy that some fine offensive or the race of the people involved?
Although I don't think her perfprmance was worthy of an Oscar, I don't think she sold out. To those that feel like she did, to whom did she sell out to?
Although I despise the crude, crass and abrasive persona that she's become now, I still think that the first Black woman to receive a leading Oscar should have been Whoopi Goldberg for The Color Purple, and I had Oprah Winfrey picked for the Supporting statue that year, too.
Of course that was before both women became household names and personalities own their own accord, unconnected to any acting roles. It's hard for me to find those performances believable today, because I can't help viewing them as "Whoopi and Oprah." But back then, seeing them in only the context of their performances, I was blown away.
So back to Halle for a moment. No, her Monster's Ball Academy Award didn't bother me particularly. Plenty of people have received Oscars for political or other non-performance-related reasons. By the same token, it's pretty much recognized now that A Color Purple's historic shutout (I think it had something like twelve nominations and not a single statue)had more to do with Academy politics and a Steven Speilburg backlash, than anything else.
No she didn't deserve an Oscar for that movie. The movie was sorry and so was the acting.
On another note she (Halle) gets on my nerves on so many levels. I hate how she always try's to play the victim everytime one of her relationships goes wrong and then blabs about it to the media.
I do have to give her a little bit of props for not selling her daughters pic. to the media. I was so sure she was gonna do it.
@ cjames- you make me appreciate my husband. thanks. next time i roll my eyes b'c he's left his socks on the floor for the umteenth, i'll stop myself and remember what a gem i have in him.
@ cinco- the scene would still have been horrible if it were with a black man. but with the RACIST WHITE character?? h@ll YEAH that made it worse!! and who did halle sell out to? hollywood! she fell right smack into their trap and laid an impossible path for the TALENTED black actresses who are out there on the grind.
I don't think she sold out to anyone. If I thought she had talent as an actress I wouldn't feel that it was diminished by her intimate performance in Monsters Ball. There have been other actors/actresses that have done very steamy scenes and I don't think the same perceptions have been made. Denzel Washington and Mickey Rourke come immediately to my mind.
I see the movie a little differently. I think that Halle is a product of Hollywood and a pretty face. I don't think that she can act. I want to be taken there and she does not do that. I am biased against her because of the X Men and Catwoman movies. But I think this movie has value on several levels. It is not the best movie but it is a great conversation starter about gender, race, and resources.I found the fact that Halle's character had no one interesting and that is a main part of the movie. Where was her family, maybe if she had support around things would have been different. How much can you go through and still maintain your humanity, and not be numb? I find the fact the her son in the movie overate and horded food (which is a sign of much larger issues) disturbing. I found Billy Bob son's suicide disturbing (also bigger issues). I found the fact that Halle's characters son got run down like an animal offensive. I did not find the love scene offensive. It was intense and emotional because she lost both her son and his father. She was numb. We all use things to help us feel whether it is sex, food, etc. We all go through things or experience things that make us question our humanity and try to validate that. It would not have been any different if all things were the same but the man was African American. To me this movie (in a very raw and risky way) is about how to keep and find your humanity in the most inhumane circumstances. How does the race of each character affect their life situation. And being a prison guard, what are the psychological affects of this? I wonder how easy it is to continue to see people in a positive light. I wonder how easy it is for his charcter to hold on to some type of humanity. Was he racist, without question. I think both characters were numb and needy in so many ways, I also feel that people reactions to the movie have to do with how gender affects how we all see race. I never hear people talk about other issues that the movie brought up. I also feel (and this comes from talking to many people and reading several articles) that Halle's gender as a Black woman (and the prototype for some) influenced how people reacted to the movie. Something along the line of who feels that they have ownership over women that are the same Race, Religion, etc.
The Halle Berry situation is just another prime example of "Hollyweird" and their tactics toward black talent.
I sent AB a video sometime last year that talks about the coincidence between black men having to wear dresses or acting gay in movies so they won't be blacklisted. Black women can hardly get roles in major movies unless they do degrading scenes.
Will Smith is the black Tom Cruise now. Before he became a superstar, he had to play a gay role..shortly thereafter...Fresh Prince of Bel-Air took off.
Dave Chappelle refused to wear a dress in one of his movies. Now you can't FIND him in Hollywood.
View the video at the link below, but cop the headphones, and hide the kids.
http://tinyurl.com/5b2hg3
I didn't watch Monster's Ball. I had heard about the sex scene. My wife and I watched Alex Haley's "Queen" on DVD in which she plays a mixed woman who's "passing" living a priviledged white life instead of a poor black during slavery and Reconstruction.
Her secret is later revealed and the whites kick her out. She attempts to find help from free blacks who reject her too since they know that she benefitted from her light skin.
Berry later walks into a church full of black folks, starving and dirty. The congregation falls quiet as she walks toward the altar. The she starts screaming...
"HELP ME! SOMEBODY! PLEASE....I NEGRA! I NEGRA! HELP ME, GAWD! I HUNGRY I SCARED!"
Trust me, the irony of that scene and her career were not lost on me!
EG
i'm a black woman so i care deeply about how we're portrayed in the media. the "jezebel" stereotype is one that i'd like put to rest. i agree with you on the crack head roles, too. but they don't bother me as much as this x-rated scene being slipped into an r-rated flick and the corresponding "reward".
i couldn't give two flips about how micky rourke chooses to portray himself on camera. i've never seen denzel in a scene like THIS before.
@eg- appreciate ya! my husband refuses to watch it too for this very reason. i appreciate the fact that there are other brothers out here who care about the dignity of black women in general- not just their moms, wives, daughters, sisters...
@deedee
Remember, Denzel didn't get that Oscar until he got shot in his butt in "Training Day".
No, Denzel didn't wear a dress, or grab his ankles...but he did succumb to the coonery that was the bullet in the @$$.
Then he gets the trophy. Jamie Foxx wore a dress on TV...he got an Oscar too....
Hmm......
EG
DeeDee, the only way anything will change though is if black women themselves get serious about writing, directing and producing their own movies. And not necessarily within the Hollywood system either.
@ Dok/Missy
I already reviewed BAPS for this series (odd, huh?) and I've added a hyperlink to it in this post.
@ MissJay
Introducing Dorothy was a made-for-TV movie. I don't think you can get an Oscar for that, can you? Anybody know?
@ CJames
I'll catch some flack for this, but I agree. Without that scene, that movie prolly goes straight to DVD. There's nothing else notable about the movie.
@ Monie
Yeah, she does play a LOT of pipeheads. Odd.
@ Cinco
Had the scene been with a black man... straigh to DVD, or never greenlit in the first place.
@ Chris N.
Agreed, this was political. Wasn't the Academy under some heat for the lack of black nominees the year before? I forget what happened, but I know there was some tension that lead many to beleive that this award, as well as Denzel's was a "ok, you got your awards, now shut up" gesture to blacks.
Anyone recall?
@ Renata
I'll give you props, you dissected the underlying premise of this movie far better than even Lee Daniels (director) prolly could. But I still gotta say, for all that complexity and nuance, this movie still sucked a$$. It was just awful.
@ EG
I recall there being a similar outcry that after all his great roles, Denzel got the Oscar for a movie where he played a cursing, lying, racist, rogue cop.
The difference of course, is that Training Day was a very good movie. Monster Balls.... it just sucked.
@ DeeDee
I get your point. But reality is, in Hollywood, unless you want to be segregated into Tyler Perry flicks and romatic comedies, you have to take chances. If you're a black woman, your work is doubly cut out for you. Few black actresses are able to run this gauntlet.
Don't forget, Angela Bassett did a topless scene in Critters 3, a piece of cinematic trash if there ever was one.
I'm not defending Halle, because I just don't think she's all that talented. But reality is, everyone that wins an Oscar isn't mega-talented. Sometimes it's politricks, this would be such a time.
@ eg- i was gonna go down that denzel road too- same year- he got "rewarded" for playing a gangster. i wholeheartedly agree. messed up. but i think cinco was referring to sex scenes since she lumped micky rourke in with her denzel comment.
as far as jaime goes- you make a very interesting point abt the playing gay/ wearing a dress correlation. never thought of that before. but hands down, his win for ray was one of the most well-deserved oscars in history. and that's REALLY hard for me to say b'c don cheadle is my favorite actor and he got passed up that year for his amazing role in hotel rwanda.
but in that "best performance" catergory, i'd also place denzel for his supporting actor win in "glory". the scene where he's being whipped and a single tear falls from his eye is hands down my favorite scene in a movie- period. and before you all jump down my throat about it being messed up for him to win for playing the role of a slave- let me make my perspective very clear- i like knowing that we as african americans are descendants of african kings and queens but i possess no greater pride than knowing that i am a descendant of slaves- the strongest, bravest, most determined people to ever walk the face of this earth. for enduring what they did, and not throwing in the towel by committing mass suicide to escape hell on earth, so that i may have a chance to exist in the world, i will forever be grateful.
@ nia- i feel you on that and support the outstanding black women filmakers we do have out there. those who break through mainstream and those on the independent circuit. but in my mind, that's still no excuse for halle to have played herself like this.
I just didn't like Monster's Ball and I turned the movie off. Just not my cup of tea or maybe I wasn't in the right mood. So I don't know if Halle deserved it or not. I do know that Woopie should have received the Oscar for The Color Purple. That film still amazes me. I know that at the time it was a very special movie because of the all black cast, but I come a generation after that and to me it's one of the most amazing films ever on what it means to be a woman.
But the Oscars have a history of awarding the wrong people at the wrong time.
My issues with Monster Ball remain the same, awful stooryline, horrible acting and nothing worthy of acknowledgement by the Oscar committee.
My point about Denzel/Mickey was that although criticism is subjective, I wondered if some of the comments previously made were bordering sexist.
As someone mentioned, the movie didn't address the real issues it presented. But as also mentioned, Black women need to create more appropriate films and stop relying for some mans' (even if he is Black) point of view to be marketed instead.
FINALLY after all these years, I get to talk about Monster's Ball.
It was one of the most BORING movies I've ever seen in my life! God! Halle sounded like she was fresh out of slavery, but looked like she was fresh out of Saks Fifth Avenue.
The love scene made me cringe.
This was just an awful awful movie and HELL NO Halle didn't deserve an Oscar!
@ deedee & EB:
I've never seen Monster Ball or Training Day. For what it's worth, I don't see how a nude sex scene is by definition degrading, or how getting shot in the rump is by definition coonery (It seemed to do Tom Hanks a lot of good.)
I understand on a basic level, but since white actors (from A-listers to C-listers and below) do these things (and worse) all the time, it hardly represents some sort of specialized marginal shunting.
However, if what you mean is that it seems black actors WON'T get recognized unless their role involves some sort of self-degradation or exploitative nudity (though one person's exploitative is another person's "arty"), then I see your point.
The movie sucked.
But I don't get the anger over her doing sex scenes. Getting "rewarded" by the academy for doing risky, almost ridiculous over the top parts isn't solely something blacks end up doing. Maybe some of you only notice when a black actor or actress do it, or only care/take offense when they do it.
It's become a running joke about how you have to play a mentally handicapped person, a homosexual, or some role in a holocaust movie to win an award.
Kate Winslet just won a Golden Globe(precursor to the oscars) the other night for her role in some boring movie that I'm never going to see, I think it's called The Reader. I just found out that she does a bunch of sex scenes in the movie...........with a young boy..............and she playes a nazi! And off the top of my head she beat out Marisa Tomei who was also up for an award who played a stripper in The Wrestler.
You can't tell me that isn't at least as offensive then a black chick(halle)having sex with a racist? Maybe if you only care about black actors you would, but that's your problem not hollywoods.
I'm sure if I actually looked I could find half a dozen more examples from just the roles nominated for Golden Globes last Sunday.
As far as having to do some shitty embarrassing roles on the way up.......that's for ALL actors. Are you kidding me? Don't you ever watch Leno when he gets a hold of some huge stars "early work" and plays it. Embarrassing the shit out of his guest? The list is endless. Pick an actress, you can find nude scenes with them on Mrskin.com. Tom Hanks even played some horrible role on growing pains or some other bad 80's sitcom where he played a gambling addict or a drug addict or something stupid. You can find the scenes on youtube. Or after school specials from way back, Ben Affleck played some kid who took steroids and it ruined his life or something.
The point is Hollywood doesn't make black actors "jump through hoops". They make all actors jump through hoops. Especially actresses. But when you get roles more because you're pretty than your acting chops you've got to do something extra, then when you hit your 40's and you're not hot anymore and you still don't have any acting chops.......bye bye.
BWHAHAHAHAHA!!! I'm glad someone out here is telling the truth in 2009! I love me some Halle, but she ain't a great actor. Dorothy Dandridge was her best gig along with The Program. That's the movie!
-Ed.
www.edthesportsfan.com
I agree with the the Tyler Perry/ Martin Lawrence/ Eddie Murphy theme. I find it insulting and I find it lazy and I would ask where their morals were when they decided to ride that ride but I think that we all know the answer to that. That is the scary part we only control our actions. But that is their choice to represent in that manner.
The power that Hollywood and the media (mainstream and otherwise) is intimidating and scary. It is undeniable and recognized and respected.
I have given up hope that Hollyweird will be able to capture the complexity of our lives. How can you? I am also tired of putting my affirmation as a Black women in the hands of a industry that affirms no one. I mean NO ONE. Sometimes you can not depend on someone to give you recognition for things that we already know. Our dignity as a people whether unacknowledged by others is intact, no matter what, as is our dignity as individuals. No one is going to take that away from me. Especially not the broad who ruined X Men AND Catwoman or Eddie Murphy. Nor are they going to oepn doors and anything for me. I am not just happy with seeing a black face I want the quality to be there. Period. If I want Moet don't give me the five dollar knock off. Hollyweird is lazy, narrow minded, and most important monetary based.
I understand and respect the fight for the control and the creation of how we define ourselves but on some level with Hollyweird I feel like our complaints are nothing more then spoonfeeding lazy people. Who then go and do things for the money. Not because they have an interest in advancing anything but their personal wealth. I want more that that. I want respect. When most people stay within their comfort zones and continue to buy into, support, and promote certain beliefs, whose fight is it? Ours or the people who continue to hold old ass f' up ideas? We all deal with the consequences of these beliefs but whose fight is it? Look at where it got the GOP and they are shaking their heads when they know they when you purposely exclude people and do what you always done, eventually it will bite you on the ass and in the wallet.
It took me to watching Perfect Stranger to realise Halle can't act.
She's just a pretty face.
Moving right a long.
@Marbles
That's exactly what it is. How many excellent movies has Denzel been in? Why did it take "Treaining Day" for him to win an Oscar?
@AB
You may be right. But isn't there some other award that is given for those type of movies?
^Josh,
I totally agree. I recall Elizabeth Taylor finally got an Oscar from a dry movie with a so-so performance.
Renata,
Flip Wilson's Geraldine pre-dates Tyler Perry/ Martin Lawrence/ Eddie Murphy. I don't think the trend will stop. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a character that came before Geraldine in the 70's.
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Did Halle deserve her Oscar award? I didn't see the movie. It's just a raw-wild sex scene with funny guttural moans. Sold out??? That depends on her personal morals and values.
I watched Monster's Ball after Halle won the Oscar. After I finished the movie I was left thinking WTF. I figured I just was not hip because I didn't appreciate this beautiful woman's acting skills. But, frankly, I can say she was horrible.
I think it was a very interesting story line and the characters could have been very dark and intense. I just didn't feel it with Halle in the lead. She just was not convincing in that particular role. The little fat kid was good though.
I've seen her in one or two things and never really considered her a serious actress.
I think I can say that about most of Hollywood these days though. The really pretty people definitely aren't the most talented.
That's exactly what it is. How many excellent movies has Denzel been in? Why did it take "Treaining Day" for him to win an Oscar?
I'm not sure that this is a racial thing, but rather Hollywood being Hollywood.
Whoopi Goldberg gets passed over for The Color Purple, but then wins for Ghost? Dame Judy Dench gets passed over for Mrs. Brown, but then wins for her three-minute cameo in Shakespeare In Love? Paul Newman gets passed over for just about everything and then wins for The Color of Money?
No Halle did not deserve an Oscar. Not for anything. Ever. Remember X Men and Catwoman. Denzel stepped out of the good guy role in Training Day. I liked that he took a risk and he was good IMO. My other fav Denzel movies are Glory and Antoine Fisher which I look at at least twice a month. But my man is Laurence Fishburne. He is so good IMO. So is the guy Chitwetel Ejiofor and Jeffrey Wright. My favorite actresses are Angela Basset and Meryl Streep (she ran it in The Devil Wears Prada). Most "entertainers" today are about as interesting as the big hump of snow in my front yard but that is what happens when you mass market people like Pepsi. For me it is about the story like Children of Men or The Upside of Anger, or Battlestar Galactica. Make me feel like you went to Hell and Back. Make me think about my world or what I would do. But I guess that why I stick to books for the most part.
Hey AB,
I think Halle's a good actress but she is indeed overrated. I hate how she's treated as the only Black actress in Hollywood.
I remember when a coworker felt that I overanalyzed Monster's Ball when I said "Maybe I'm overanalyzing, but I didn't know what to take from it. There was a lot of irony and karma involved but I still don't see the greatness of the film."
She said "Yes, you are overanalyzing it. It's simply a love story" and went on to make some snide remark about how I watched Flavor of Love. Like I told her, "Maybe if I went home to a cold bed every night, I'd get excited over soft porn with WEAK sex scenes too."
@Renata
Oh yes Jeffrey Wright is a WONDERFUL actor!!!! OMG he is SO convincing!!!!
@Chris N.
Thanks for clearing that up for me. It's sad that an actor can have an outstanding role and get snubbed but get the Oscar for something that they barely had a part in. The Color Purple was the movie Whoopi should have won an Oscar for.
Halle Berry won the Golden Globe for her role in "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge". That was the same year that "The Corner" aired on HBO. Personally I thought that Khandi Alexander's role in "The Corner" was far superior to Halle's acting as Dorothy Dandridge, however she wasn't even nominated.
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