Movie Character of the Year

Every great movie has at least one: the character, big or small, that leaves an impression in the back of your head which will stay with you forever. This year’s crop of characters has been amazing and strangely varied. If you had asked me last year, I would have said that all of the movie studios would be so focused on trying to copy the Joker, that we’d be stuck with a bunch of characters in the same mold, but I am, thankfully, wrong. We’ve got a heartfelt southern mother, a space doctor (not a physicist), a WWII lieutenant who loves what he does, a mutated tomato, and a lone wolf who found his wolf pack. Yep, I don’t see the Joker anywhere here.

• Leigh Ann Tuohy (Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side)
This was pleasant surprise for the year. I started watching The Blind Side expecting a plot driven story with less emphasis on characters, but instead, we get Sandra Bullock’s tongue-in-cheek Leigh Ann Tuohy, who does what she says and says what she does.

• Alan Garner (Zach Galifianakis, The Hangover)
Nothing I say can give more justice than the following speech by Alan in the movie:

You guys might not know this, but I consider myself a bit of a loner. I tend to think of myself as a one-man wolf pack. But when my sister brought Doug home, I knew he was one of my own. And my wolf pack... it grew by one. So there... there were two of us in the wolf pack... I was alone first in the pack, and then Doug joined in later. And six months ago, when Doug introduced me to you guys, I thought, "Wait a second, could it be?" And now I know for sure, I just added two more guys to my wolf pack. Four of us wolves, running around the desert together, in Las Vegas, looking for strippers and cocaine. So tonight, I make a toast!

Then he proceeds to cut his hand to make a blood pack that freaks the others out. Golden!

• Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy (Karl Urban, Star Trek)
In a movie filled with memorable moments, Karl Urban’s portrayal of Bones stole the most scenes from Kirk and Spock. From his introduction where a stewardess pulled him out of hiding in a shuttle restroom, every scene with Bones brought a lot of levity to what could have been a dark movie.

• Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt, Inglorious Basterds)
If this movie was based on true events, Lt. Aldo Raine would have been a polarizing figure. His mission wasn’t to save people. It was a simple mission. Bring fear to the Third Reich by killing Nazis in gruesome ways. Whether it be by scalping dead soldiers, spreading rumors of an invincible “Bear Jew” that likes to smash the heads of soldiers, or by carving a swastika into any Nazi they let go in exchange for information. The movie left me wanting more Aldo Raine and less of the other story of Shoshanna.

• B.O.B (Seth Rogan, Monsters Vs. Aliens)
I have soft spot for great characters that, in no way, could carry a movie by themselves, but can make a great movie even better: kind of like salt. If you tell me to eat a spoonful of salt, I’d demand money. If you tell me to eat popcorn, I’d demand for some salt. B.O.B. is that kind of character. As the no-brained member of the Monsters team, he was the funniest of the out-of-place creatures left to defend our planet. Every scene with him was a knee-slapper, even when he’s just playing with a ball or talking to a plate of gelatin.

And the Winner is…
Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy!

The only thing I would have added to this character was a nice rack to stare at. Thankfully, the movie provided plenty in the backgrounds.