Worthy Witherspoon performances
Currently on our shores filming A Wrinkle in Time and about to invade our TV screens alongside Nicole Kidman and Shailene Woodley in Big Little Lies, Reese Witherspoon has been one of the most popular Hollywood actresses of the past two decades.
To celebrate the 40-year-old ‘‘Southern Gal’s’’ South Island sojourn, we decided to look back at our favourite Witherspoon pieces so far.
Freeway (1996)
One of the first roles that brought Witherspoon to cinemagoers’ attention. She plays teenage juvenile delinquent Vanessa Lutz, who while evading the attentions of her social workers, runs into a charming, but sadistic serial killer.
Best line: ‘‘You shoulda let me out of the car when I asked you to, Bob. You see what happens when ya got bad manners?’’
Pleasantville (1998)
Starring alongside Tobey Maguire, Jeff Daniels and Joan Allen, Witherspoon plays Jennifer, one of two teenage siblings transported into a 1950s sitcom where their influence begins to profoundly change that complacent world. She’s a delight, as her rebellious and adventurous character discovers that sometimes it’s okay to be a little careful and conservative.
Best line: ‘‘Well, you know, Mom, there are other ways to enjoy yourself ... without Dad.’’
Election (1999)
Although Alexander Payne cleverly cast Matthew Broderick (once the coolest 1980s high-school anarchist) as her social studies teacher nemesis, this comedy belongs to Witherspoon’s Tracy Flick. One of the great comedic creations of the 1990s, Flick is a terrifyingly whip-smart high school presidential candidate who would stop at nothing to get the top job.
Best line: ‘‘Some people say I’m an overachiever, but I think they’re just jealous.’’
Legally Blonde (2001)
One of the most beloved cinematic characters of the noughties, that unlikely law student Elle Woods ‘‘worked’’ was down to the chutzpah and charisma of Witherspoon. She helped sell both Elle’s initially goofy charms and her transformation into one of Harvard Law’s leading lights.
Best line: ‘‘You know, a girl in my sorority, Tracy Marcinco got a perm once. We all tried to talk her out of it. Curls weren’t a good look for her. She didn’t have your bone structure, but thankfully that same day she entered the Pheta Delta Phi wet T-shirt contest where she was completely hosed down from head to toe.’’
Sweet Home Alabama (2002)
Witherspoon is at her pert, perky and personable best in this romantic-comedy in which a young southern woman reinvents herself as a New York socialite. ‘‘If you’re a fan of Witherspoon, this movie was produced, shot, edited and distributed entirely for you,’’ wrote Washington Post’s Desson Thomson.
Best line: ‘‘Well, you must be Jake’s hot date. I’m Melanie, Jake’s snotty Yankee bit.. wife whom he refuses to divorce.’’
Walk The Line (2005)
The film that won Witherspoon a well-deserved Oscar. Matching up superbly to Joaquin Phoenix’s towering performance as singing legend Johnny Cash, she delivered a June Carter Cash who was sassy, sensitive and sung like an angel. As Rolling Stone magazine’s Peter Travers put it, ‘‘her portrayal of June is astounding in its vitality and richness’’.
Best line: ‘‘My problem is that it’s 2am. My problem is I’m asleep. I’m on a tour bus with eight stinkin’ men. Rule number one: Don’t propose to a girl on a bus, you got that? Rule number two: Don’t tell her it’s because you had a bad dream.’’
The Good Lie (2014)
While this drama mainly focuses on travails of four Sudanese refugees as they attempt to resettle in the US, Witherpoon’s kindly employment counsellor Carrie Davis nearly steals the show. As the New York Observer’s Rex Reed put it, ‘‘she’s first rate … buxom, tough, and devoid of any trace of glamour’’.
Best line: ‘‘Hi... Hey, you must be the guys from ... Somalia?... Senegal? I’m sorry, help me out here.’’
Inherent Vice (2014)
Witherspoon’s Deputy DA Penny Kimball is one of the few voices of reason in Paul Thomas Anderson hilariously, blackly comic adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s novel. It is she who tries to talk sense into the drug-addled Doc Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix) as he investigates the disappearance of one of his ex-girlfriends.
Best line: ‘‘How many joints have you had today?’’
Wild (2014)
Despite the story treading a familiar path, it’s Witherspoon’s fantastic, Oscar-nominated performance that makes this odyssey of contemplation and selfdiscovery worth following throughout its 1100-mile, near twohour journey. Director Jean-Marc Vallee’s recreation of Cheryl Strayed’s 1995 ‘‘time out’’ uses the sights and sounds she witnesses along the way to evoke memories of her troubled former life (years of reckless behaviour, surrounded by a troubled marriage and losing her mother). This puts the audience alongside her on her ‘‘road to Damascus’’, slowly unfolding the mystery of why she was on the walk in the first place.
Best line: ‘‘I’m lonelier in my real life than I am out here. I miss my friends, of course, but it’s not as if I have anybody waiting for me at home.’’
Sing (2016)
Only just shading her leading lady vocal performance as a 50ft (15 metres) woman in Monsters vs Aliens, Witherspoon shines as a downtrodden porcine mother-of-25 in this animated comedy musical.
The ingenuous way that Rosita manages to juggle motherhood and a possible singing career would impress even the likes of Wallace and Gromit.
Best line: ‘‘The fire went out a long time ago.’’ – James Croot