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Toni Collette in "United States of Tara"
courtesy of SHOWTIME
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“United States of Tara” (SHOWTIME)
Years ago I saw a fascinating movie titled “The Three Faces of Eve.” It concerned a woman who had multiple personalities. Joanne Woodward won an Oscar for her performance in the title role. Now SHOWTIME is introducing a new series titled “United States of Tara” and it too is about a woman with multiple personalities. Toni Collette stars and she could also have awards in her future.
Tara (Collette) is a housewife who reacts to stress by letting alternate personalities inhabit her body. Her husband Max (John Corbett) and their two children, Kate (Brie Larson) and Marshall (Keir Gilchrist), take the personalities in stride, having some they favor over others. Her sister Charmaine (Rosemarie DeWitt) is not so understanding.
In the first two episodes of the series we see the emergence of “T,” a sexy teenager in the body of an older woman. “T” is out for a good time and is much more free spirited than Tara. Then there is Alice, a proper fifties matron who wears the dressy clothes and always has the proper manners. Alice can easily be too much of a good thing. Finally there is Buck, a man who likes his beer and a good brawl.
Collette completely projects each of these characters and makes them believable aspects of Tara’s personality. It is an acting tour de force and one that will make an imprint on your mind. One good role in a TV series is rare, but four in one is almost impossible. Still if Collette was not as talented as she is this could have been a disaster.
Corbett, Larson and Gilchrist are also good. Corbett is outstanding as the laid back husband who has more than enough to cope with in raising two kids. Adding a wife with multiple personality disorder is a killer, but somehow he accepts it as his lot in life.
The show is written by Diablo Cody, the award winning creator of “Juno.” It is Executive Produced by Steven Spielberg.
It is unknown whether this strange collection of personalities will wear out its welcome in short time. That will depend on how engrossing the scripts are, and how much the character(s) grow on the audience. Collette and company are making a strong effort to keep it all relevant and interesting but a little quirkiness goes a long way.
Still, you should tune in to see Toni Collette’s performance which is amazingly on target. She is endearing as Tara, offensive as “T”, prim as Alice, and rough as Buck. Put them all together and you have one total personality, but getting them to merge is the problem.
“United States of Tara” premieres on SHOWTIME, Sunday, January 18 at 10PM. |
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©2009 Jackie K. Cooper |
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