Buy Or Don’t Buy

As of now, Anna Kendrick is probably (well, definitely) best-known as that girl from the Twilight movies, you know, that one who doesn’t get a whole lot of screen time and is inexplicably overlooked by all of her male classmates in favor of Kristen Stewart’s listless Bella Swan.

But after December 25, when the funny-sad-smart George Clooney vehicle Up in the Air finally has its wide release, she’ll hopefully become better known as a pretty damn good actress in her own right - certainly better than Kristen Stewart, who has failed to be anything but listless whether she’s playing the queen of all Mary Sues or not.

I actually considered Kendrick to be a bright spot in Twilight when I first saw it about a year ago. Her character, Jessica, is completely inessential to what little plot exists, but she actually kind of seemed like a real teenager. She sounds like a valley girl, and she ends half of her sentences with a sort of half-laugh, but as an insecure high schooler threatened yet intrigued by the (bland, unattractive, dull…) new girl, she rings true.

I also like her because in the second movie, New Moon, Jessica is basically the voice of the viewer. Or, at least, the viewer like me. In a brief scene where she attends a movie with Bella, Jessica is at once annoyed, bored and pissed off with Bella; if my memory serves me correctly, she also calls Bella an idiot after she hops on the back of a motorcycle with a random townie. I could relate.

But Up in the Air is where the inklings of talent in Twilight are really confirmed. An ambitious recent Ivy League grad, her character Natalie is at once ruthless and hopelessly idealistic. She thinks nothing of firing a stranger over an Internet webcam, yet clings to a vision of a future husband with a nice smile and a golden retriever. It’s satisfying to watch her develop some self-realization as she’s forced to encounter the strangers on whose misfortune she plans to build a career. Kendrick hits the right notes, playing her self-conscious and uptight in the presence of an older, more experienced, skeptical coworker, and holds her own against Clooney.

So here’s to hoping that Anna Kendrick escapes the ninth circle of hell that is Twilight, and establishes herself in projects that will put her to better use.

P.S. I’M BACK, BITCHES!