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Verdict: Charlize Theron and Christina Ricci are monstrously good.

By ELEANOR RINGEL GILLESPIE
Cox News Service

When you look like Charlize Theron, it can be a mixed blessing. You get cast a lot, mostly opposite A-list stars like Al Pacino, Keanu Reeves, Robert De Niro and Matt Damon. But you play the wife, the girlfriend, the mistress. And while there are exceptions, these roles don't give you a chance to act as much as to decorate.

In "Monster," Theron gets the chance. She acts her head off - sometimes too much so - giving the sort of dowdied-down Oscar-bait performance that worked for Nicole Kidman in "The Hours" and Elizabeth Taylor in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?". It's too soon to read Oscar's mind, but her work was good enough to earn a Best Actress citation from the picky National Society of Film Critics.

Theron plays Aileen Wuornos, whose pathetic life already has been the subject of documentaries. In the 1980s, Wuornos worked a section of I-95 in central Florida, picking up men and giving them what they wanted for the right fee. Like most low-end hookers, she wasn't a beauty, but she had a certain sexual confidence, honed out of necessity, thanks to a rough childhood that had her turning tricks at age 13.

As the movie starts, two things happen. First, she falls in love with Selby (Christina Ricci), a sad-eyed little lesbian from an ultra-religious family. Second, Aileen starts killing her johns.

The first murder is a hard-to-watch act of self-defense. The rest are random and pitiless. She soon learns that killing guys and taking their cash and car is far more lucrative than hooking. And she needs the money now that she's taking care of Selby, who isn't much interested in taking care of herself.

It's not totally clear who's the monster here. Certainly, Aileen is a psycho-killer, taking out her rage against men in inappropriate ways, as a shrink would say. But then there's passive-aggressive Selby, who, whenever money runs out, sets her pouty mouth, hardens her eyes and suggests Aileen go find another car. She does this even after Aileen decides she's sick of killing and wants to get a regular job - a serio-comic segment in which she's unnecessarily humiliated while at the same time she naively expects to become a lawyer or a vet with no degree, rŽsumŽ or training.

Theron has pulled a De Niro here, gaining as much as 30 pounds for the role. She also uses a dental prosthesis and profile-altering makeup to change her face, skin and teeth.

But this is more than stunt acting. Theron uses her size - she's model-tall - to show us a big woman who's comfortable being a big woman. There's a touch of Jack Nicholson's swagger in the way she holds herself and in her good-times grin. And her ritualistic thumbs-up self-appraisal in a mirror all but screams De Niro in "Taxi Driver." Yet there's poignancy here as well. "One thing people don't know about me is, I can learn," she insists with a low-life's hard-earned confidence. "I could train myself."

Ricci is just as good in a less showy role. Her Selby is a dank, demanding creature, mousy and shrouded, with lank hair and a wallflower's demeanor. Yet she's mostly calling the shots, even as Aileen rages.

Alas, both are braver and more seasoned than fledgling writer-director Patty Jenkins. She obviously has talent; there are parts of Aileen's story she nails. For instance, when an old pal, a Vietnam vet (Bruce Dern - who else?), offers Aileen a sandwich, her self-worth is so pitiful she offers a sex act in exchange (he refuses).

But most of the film isn't that focused. Jenkins seems to be aiming at a film like Terrence Malick's classic cockeyed-murderer movie "Badlands." She even uses the same music at one point. But at this early stage of her career, Jenkins just isn't in Malick's league, and we're never drawn into Aileen's pathology and pathos.

Still, at least she's striving for a kind of excellence too many of today's filmmakers don't bother with. "Monster" isn't entirely the movie it could be but, as is, it's still compelling.