On my flight to Utah on Delta airlines last week, the little free TV on the back of my seat was showing a variety of unappealing series. Two movies happened to be playing. The first choice was King Arthur which looked ridiculous with a capital R whenever I flipped past it (I haven't seen it). The second choice was Bridget Jones Diary. Renée Zellweger is really veddy veddy good in it. But you knew that already. I'm totally down with her Oscar nomination that year (though I think she's even better in Nurse Betty the year before). You can see all of Renée's familiar facial tics but there’s nothing calcified or forced about her comic mugging. It’s like at some point in her career --I'm guessing Chicago but your chronology may vary -- she decided to Perform Renee Zellweger rather than just Being Renée Zellweger. It was and remains disconcerting.Also: she’s so much hotter with a full figure. There's a couple of unflattering outfits in BDD but mostly she just looks healthy... comfy even. Too bad she became the poster child for the stick figure revolution among actresses. Spilling out of her playboy bunny outfit and giggling / embarrassed at her giant underpants, she’s adorable with a capital A. Bet you never thought you'd hear me say that again. Hey, it was a long flight. She thoroughly distracted me and you have to give thanks for unexpected gifts.
But the airline's satellite feed was lost and Renee’s image was eventually scrambled, her face distorted and frozen in mid-expression... art imitating life retroactively.
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