Ashley Judd's new movie, Double Jeopardy, is number one in America, three weeks strong. And Ashley Judd is a movie star. It's all I wanted for her. Ever since I saw her in acclaimed director Victor Nunez's film Ruby in Paradise, I've been hooked on Ashley. I go see her movies. Yes, I saw this big budget, overly sentimental, action thriller stinker. I'm thinking it's time to give up; Ashley's never going to do anything good again.
Ashley Judd made her film debut in Victor Nunez's Ruby in Paradise. She got rave reviews and won the 1994 Independent Spirit Award for best actress for that performance. I, myself, find it embarrassing how much I loved this movie. Ashley Judd plays Ruby Lee Gissing, a young woman from a small Tennessee town who moves to Panama City, Florida after the death of her mother to start a new life. It's a slow, simple film. Ashley's Ruby writes in her journal; she makes tea; she buys plants; she eats pie with her fingers. She takes walks by the ocean wearing the same clothes she slept in. She sleeps with the wrong boys. She wonders how to live. The movie is six years old now, and I am six years older, but I still find myself wondering how to live. Ruby's questions. How to earn money, be in love, have friends, how to live. Ashley Judd gives a pure performance. Anybody that knows me gets the Ruby test: If they don't like <I>Ruby in Paradise</I>, I think they don't pass. It's fairly simple.
I lament Ashley's career moves. Once, I made the mistake of renting The Passion of Darkly Noon. It's soft porn, probably never released in theaters. Ashley plays the beautiful young temptress in the woods. She had an interesting cameo in Smoke, playing Harvey Keitel's crack addicted daughter. A Normal Life; went straight to video as well. Recent films include the overbearingly heartwarming Simon Birch, and another #1 flick, Kiss the Girls. It's a pleasure to watch Ashley in a sports bra practice her kick-boxing, but it's a forgettable film. In her upcoming film, Eye of the Beholder, Ashley apparently plays a serial killer.
Ashley Judd is a movie star. No doubt. She is gorgeous. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in French and she won't let you forget it. Reporters make constant mention of the big words she bandies in interviews. She wore a dress to the 1998 Oscars with a slit so high that columnists were forced to speculate if she was wearing underwear. Oh, Ashley. I know you're smart. I know you're beautiful. I don't know what you were thinking, going out with Michael Bolton for so long. I don't know why you think you need a Hollywood blockbuster to be known as an actress. Make a good movie, Ashley. Make a good movie. I don't care if it makes money.
Please. Make a good movie.
