I don’t know if there’s another actress who personifies sardonic quite like Mary Louise Parker. Plus she’s really beautiful! I even forgive her for her role as one of the most annoying characters ever introduced on West Wing, Amy the feminist lobbyist (I haven’t seen her new Showtime series, Weeds, but it has Kevin Nealon, so I’ll probably hate it).
She’s going to be getting wed to Mr. Brad Pitt – in the movies only. She’ll be playing Zee James, wife of the infamous outlaw Jesse. Zee James? Does that mean he had 25 other brides, from Aye to Why?
The film is The Assassination of Jesse James. That title is significantly shortened from that of the book on which it’s based – The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Casey Affleck is playing the aforementioned Coward Robert Ford, who shot Jesse James in the back while he was hanging pictures. Oops, spoiler!
I like the casting in this one – Brad Pitt should be a good roguish bandit, and the natural Darwinian relationship between him and Affleck (Robert Ford was a young man who idolized the gunslinger and joined the James Gang, but sadly didn’t get to play on Funk #49) should be great onscreen. Add to that the inherent intelligence of Mary Louise Parker and sprinkle in Chopper director Andrew Dominick, and you get a film that deserves a 4 out of 5 on the Fetal Anticipation scale.