What is America's opinion of Christina Ricci ?

She seems to have fallen off after she did "Speed Racer," which wasn't a great career move to be honest. I grew up watching her movies as a kid (Casper, Gold Diggers, Now & Then) and have always really liked her. I think she's legitimately talented, but her adult career has been hit-and-miss. She's made some interesting choices though which I don't think she gets enough credit for; she was great in The Opposite of Sex, as well as the little-seen & underrated Pumpkin, in which she plays a privileged sorority sister who falls in love with a disabled man. I think her last great performance was in Black Snake Moan, which was a fantastic Southern gothic drama. She was great in it.

A mental case, crazy bitch. Stay the fuck away.

She said on a talk show, when she was little (like around 10 or 11, i can't remember) she beat herself up and blamed it on another so she got that person's part.

She was in that awful Pan Am series (or whatever it was called), which was awful.

She's a good actress, but definitely has masochistic tendencies. I remember hearing/reading somewhere that when she was young, she would starve herself and get satisfaction from lying in bed at night with hunger pangs. She also admitted to burning herself with cigarettes regularly. She's turned in some good performances, and like R1 said, has made some offbeat choices in her career that I appreciate. Buffalo '66 is another one of her non-mainstream efforts that she did, which was good despite it being helmed by/starring slimebag Vincent Gallo.

Absolutely love her

She was great in The Lizzie Borden series - I really like her.

Untalented midget.

She's always excelled in offbeat movies, partly because of her unique look (that diamond face and those doll eyes), and partly because of her personality. She's always had a dark edge about her. I've always dug her for that reason. She's like a more palatable Chloe Sevigny.

She grew out of her looks

She met her husband on some set. He was a lowly crew member who lived with his long time girlfriend in Brooklyn. Ricci and the guy hook up and the girlfriend gets promptly dumped.

Anyone remember her in Mermaids with Winona Ryder and Cher? I believe it was her first movie, and she absolutely was adorable in it.

Love her. I don't care that her projects and acting is sometimes hit and miss. I find her eccentric and compelling.

Not sure about how she is now, but she filmed one of her teenage movies in my town. Everyone who met her said she was lovely.

[quote] She met her husband on some set. He was a lowly crew member who lived with his long time girlfriend in Brooklyn. Ricci and the guy hook up and the girlfriend gets promptly dumped.

Took a page out of my book.

I liked her as a child actress, but as an adult she's always grossed me out. I don't know why.

She's been smart enough to not relinquish her soul to the satanic forces rhat engulf showbiz and everything else soI tip my hat to her.

She’s done some great work. She’s still beautiful too.

Here's Christina with her husband and son. Husband looks rather cute--nice body, and a cute face from what I can tell.

Reese witherspoon would be lucky to have Christina Ricci’s career if she didnt hit on legally blonde.

Her career trajectory went south when she decided to revamp her image as a don't-give-a-fuck indie queen. That's when she lost shit loads of weight in order to be seen wearing designer clothes and going to top events. But she looked awful with big lollypop head/ tiny body because she's not naturally thin, she just ended up looking unwell as opposed to thin, fit, and hot. Also her acting is very one-note, she should've just stuck to indie or quirky roles.

I remember around the early ‘90s there was a photo spread in Premiere magazine with a young Ricci in a bikini. Weeks later, in the Letters to the Editor section, Geena Davis criticized the magazine for sexualizing Ricci.

I don't care much for her as a blonde though.

I loved her as a blonde in Sleepy Hollow.

I liked her in Sleepy Hollow, but blonde makes her look sickly, IMO.

R20, I don't agree but you can think that. IDGAS. The reason she didn't go A list is simplly because she's short and wasn't whorey and wasn't that thirsty for crap ass blockbuster (fill in the blank) roles.

Ovah

I did not buy her as Lizzie Borden, and thought the movie & miniseries were way too schlocky for their own good. She is a good actress, but I didn't "get" her in that role at all.

She was great in Mermaids and Monster.

She was edgy when she was a kid, which is unusual and made her stand out. Most child actors are just adorable. In early adulthood she started taking more mainstream roles and I think she blanded herself out of business, especially by the time she took the TV PanAm job.

On the other hand, most child actors don’t transition to bigtime grownup movie stars. We just don’t seem to like it much. She could make a comeback in middle age when she looks less like her child self.

She wore a stunning gown one year to the Met Ball. She stole show that year.

I liked her in “The Ice Storm”.

The Ice Storm was a fucking weird movie. Good but what was the point of killing off the kid at the end? So depressing.

Wow, reading through this has reminded me of how many great films she's been in—Mermaids, The Opposite of Sex, The Ice Storm, Fear and Loathing, Buffalo '66, Pumpkin, Monster—all great, offbeat movies. She's done some crap in-between, but overall she has a fantastic résumé.

Ice Storm was pretty bleak

SHE'S AMERICA'S SWEETHEART! MEN WANT HER, WOMEN WANT TO BE HER!

....

R14, more than a page.

Ricci's husband, who was a dolly grip when they met and hasn't worked since, is now a cinematographer on a film where Ricci plays the lead.

I think she (Christina Ricci) was really miscast in "Monster" as the girlfriend (and traitor) of Aileen Wuornos (Charlize Theron). It was a huge weakness of the movie. Ricci brought no life to the character.

Yes, she really should have entered her scenes wraring rompers and rolling a hoop!

Mermaids, Monster, The Ice Steam and especially The Opposite of Sex (she should have been nominated for that out of this world performance) are four of my all time favs. When Ricci is on? She's fantastic.

She has several indie classics under her belt so her status as a secondary legend is secured. If you love Parker Posey, and like Chloe Sevigny, then Christina Ricci is pretty good sometimes.

I loved her in the indie movie Pumpkin where she played the sorority girl who started a relationship with a disabled guy. That movie was a great black comedy and it probably wouldn't get made today.

Agreed, R42. Pumpkin is a great movie; dark, poignant, and funny.

Pan Am was terrible but I loved it!

I loved some of the minor characters in Pumpkin like Melissa McCarthy as the fat classmate who Christina tries to match up with Pumpkin, Amy Adams as one of the bitchy rival sorority girls and underrated Brenda Blethyn as Pumpkin's mother.

At least Christina didn't grow up to an ultra fug like Gaby Hoffmann.

R46, or a total bore like Anna Paquin.

Opposite of Sex

R38 I love Ricci, but I agree with you on that.

R46 is right, Christina and Gaby were both cute when they were young, but Christina's looks matured much better. Gaby would look okay if she learned how to style her hair and pluck her unruly eyebrows, but alas. I loved both of them in Now and Then and 200 Cigarettes.

Opposite of Sex was very good. I thought she was good even in not so good films.

I thought 200 Cigarettes was underrated movie.

Sad. Sad that Hollywood got inside her head. She used to be so cute and busty. She had a breast reduction, lost A LOT of weight and bragging that she was a size 0 whilst looking like an alien. Then I remembered when the Brazilian butt lift came out and she had mentioned (magazine interview) to her boyfriend she wanted to do it so she'd have an ass....which she used to have until she lost all that weight. I remember when she was a kid she said was very intelligent...sad, another white girl who sold out and has little to show for it career wise.

^ she was intelligent very intelligent ( damn my grammar lol)

I agree. She lost so much weight. She looks so different. And not in a good way. Does really lame movies now. The last one I saw with John Cusack. Really bad. I will always remember her as Wednesday Addams.

She was fantastic in the Lizzie Borden chronicles

She’s had massive plastic surgery. Used to have a Maisie Williams type of round face but had eye surgery and jaw & cheek implants

She would have made a great Margot Tenenbaum.

Love most of her choices in roles. She has a few turkeys but that’s normal.

Besides her where the hell did Thora Birch go?

R59, Thora's crazy stage dad kind of helped effectively kill her career.

Ricci played the same one note in all her teen movies. It wasn’t going to play as well in adult roles.

Speaking of "Pumpkin," after I read "Memoirs of a Geisha," before the movie got made, I envisioned Christina Ricci as the Pumpkin character. (I know she's not Asian, but at some point, I think Madonna was being considered for a role in "Memoirs of a Geisha," so I thought what the hell.)

Tortured child star to her credit she as very open about her child stardom fucking up her life. But yeh she's one-note pouty moody emo.

It's hard to recognize Christina in some recent photos. Plastic surgery, weight loss, and styling is making her look like Lily Depp.

She looks good in the OP's pic, but she's also pretty darn airbrushed there.

I loved Pan Am too. It's a shame they couldn't figure out a direction for that show.

I think she's terrific and has an awesome body of work. She has such a cool niche 'look' as a performer and a unique presence that helps her stand out. Opposite of Sex, Buffalo '66, Pecker, Fear and Loathing, Monster, The Laramie Project, 200 Cigarettes, Now and Then, Prozac Nation, The Addams Family, Pumpkin.... She's worked with the likes of Tim Burton, John Waters, Woody Allen, Ang Lee, Terry Gilliam, Sally Potter... sadly none of these were huge vehicles for them (and her) that could have relaunched her into the mainstream.

Also they simply don't make those mid-budget independent films any more that she used to thrive in, along with a few other 90s queens. Unless you're a big director like Wes Anderson or Jim Jarmusch (IMO she'd be great in either of their films).

Parker Posey is having a similar problem getting good work (even on TV). Lili Taylor too, although she's starting to get there now after success in horror films and TV. Chloe Sevigny pushed herself as a 'cult personality' and so has continued to work with the aid of stunt casting and a few good roles. Ricci's childhood besties Gaby Hoffman and Natasha Lyonne went away and came back to relaunch themselves as serious adult actresses.

If you DO make the successful transition from child star to adult star like she did (and Kiki Dunst did), you then have the problem of being in your 20s-30s and having newer, fresher faces come and overtake your spot. You may just be entering your prime years, but people already have a sense of your career having a 'full arc' because you've simply been around so long. Kirsten Dunst was lucky to get 'Melancholia' and 'Fargo' and start again. Hopefully Ricci will get a role like that too.

She's a working actress with 77 credits on her IMDB- that's better than 99.9% of the actors out there.

R68, I agree. She's had a good, interesting, varied career. Better than most.

I would love to see her again in a big budget high visibility project à la ' sleepy hollow'. I thought about her because of the Portman/moby thread. Portman is a HORRIBLE actress, and yet she' s the one who became a household name. I think Ricci is a thousand time the better actress. I remember my jaw dropping at her fabulous performance in ' the ice storm'. She stole the movie from under the feet of a monter cast, great actors at the top of their game , and she was just a teenager. Last thing I saw her in was called' 'Black snake moan' 'and she was extraordinary. I wonder why Tim Burton or Ang Lee never used her again. Also she would be a great Bond villain.

Ditto R70, I cannot stand Natalie Portman. She seems like a phony cunt and is overrated as an actress. Christina is infinitely more likable and talented. Imagine Natalie Portman trying to play Christina's role in "Black Snake Moan"? It's hilarious. On the other hand, I can completely envision Christina in Portman's "Black Swan" role.

[quote] Portman is a HORRIBLE actress, and yet she' s the one who became a household name. I think Ricci is a thousand time the better actress.

That's funny, because I remember Christina Ricci saying that she got a lot of roles that Natalie Portman turned down. I know I read that Natalie turned down the role in The Ice Storm.

I love her. So many good movies. She was cute as a kid and beautiful now, very talented, but yes, she went through a phase where she was too skinny.

FOREHEAD

She almost ruined Monster with her shit acting.

She' seems a good fit in period pieces not certain if she can play an English aristocrat but I'd compare her skills to match Michelle Pfeiffer's. Also, she's been in good large and semi-large ensemble movies. She's 39 or almost is but still looks 29. Maybe Burton could remake Bride of Frankenstein or she could be on the Big Little Lies show.

[quote] She's 39 or almost is but still looks 29.

So she'd fit in as a DLer?

well she owned the former Lloyd wright designed Roman Novorro house in the los feliz oaks area in LA, so at least she has good taste.

R78, I had no idea she was an LA dweller.

She’s a shit blonde.

WEHT

Indie movies accepted that huge forehead back in the day, but maybe adult stardom isn't for her.