Mo'Nique: Is Not Having an Act Her Act?

By Karina Longworth in Awards, Interviews, Video

Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at 11:56 am

Is Precious star Mo'Nique the "least superficial actress ever?" Such is the query posed by this NY Daily News item, which commends the Soul Plane actress for having "more important things on her mind than personal grooming," such as "dedicat[ing] her win to abuse victims everywhere."

This newsflash, complete with extreme close-up on the actresses' unshaven legs on the Golden Globes red carpet, plays into the "Mo'Nique refuses to play by Hollywood's rules," meme that's been going around ever since Precious (then called Push) debuted a year ago at Sundance. But isn't not playing the game its own kind of game playing? Aren't Mo'Nique's unshaven legs (or her namedropping of "real person" brands such as El Pollo Loco, as in the video above) just a version of former Best Supporting Actress winner Angelina Jolie's tattoos, so "shocking" for a starlet back in the late 90s and now shorthand for an "Angelina Jolie type"? Or is this sort of thing just a way to talk up Mo'Nique's general "outsider" cred (as a black woman with a predominantly non-white fanbase, as a comedienne playing it straight), without actually talking about it?

Regardless of Mo'Nique's strategy or lack thereof, it seems unfathomable at this point that anything could get in the way of her and Oscar. That said, the people seem less impressed than the press. The Daily News ultimately turns the issue over to their readers via a poll, which right now is trending overwhelmingly towards the negative verdict, "It's gross, period."