Release Date:
Friday, February 8, 2002
Here’s a joke we thought up while watching Monster’s Ball: “Monster’s Ball? Isn’t that what Billy Crystal played in Monster’s Inc.?” Ha, ha. Take that, Gene Shalit! Lame joke aside, Monster’s Ball is, in fact, an engrossing movie about hatred, fear, lonliness, and all those other happy, cheerful thoughts.
Billy Bob Thornton, hitting the trifecta here after Bandits and The Man Who Wasn’t There, stars as a death row prison guard in Georgia who, after putting a man (Sean Combs) to death, becomes entangled in an affair with his widow (Halle Berry). Putting added pressure on Thornton are his confused son (Heath Ledger) and his bitter, racist father (skillfully played by Peter Boyle). While Monster’s Ball takes its time hitting stride (and convincing the audience to buy Berry as both a trailer park widow and the mother of a 200-pound son), it soon reveals itself as sadly and painfully touching. While much is going to be made of the explicit sex scene between Berry and Thornton, it’s really more pathetic than erotic (and, no, that’s not because the shirtless Thornton looks like Barney Fife after a bender). If you’re in the mood for something on the down side, check it out.
Billy Bob Thornton, hitting the trifecta here after Bandits and The Man Who Wasn’t There, stars as a death row prison guard in Georgia who, after putting a man (Sean Combs) to death, becomes entangled in an affair with his widow (Halle Berry). Putting added pressure on Thornton are his confused son (Heath Ledger) and his bitter, racist father (skillfully played by Peter Boyle). While Monster’s Ball takes its time hitting stride (and convincing the audience to buy Berry as both a trailer park widow and the mother of a 200-pound son), it soon reveals itself as sadly and painfully touching. While much is going to be made of the explicit sex scene between Berry and Thornton, it’s really more pathetic than erotic (and, no, that’s not because the shirtless Thornton looks like Barney Fife after a bender). If you’re in the mood for something on the down side, check it out.