Selma Blair gives brighter co-stars something useful to work against: a sleepy presence and dry, hesitant comic timing. We rate that restraint, though her awkwardness becomes less persuasive when a performance pushes it too hard.
Fi1m perspective
Selma Blair can make hesitation do the work of a joke, letting a more energetic co-star set the pace without trying to match it. Her sleepy screen presence suits the preppy, awkward and snobbish supporting parts that recur in her work. In Legally Blonde (2001), where she plays Vivian Kensington opposite Reese Witherspoon, that contrast is part of the comedy's pleasure. We like her best when a scene gives that hesitation room, rather than pushing her to insist on the joke.
Cruel Intentions (1999) brought her breakthrough as Cecile Caldwell, alongside Witherspoon and Sarah Michelle Gellar. It also shows the risk in her comic awkwardness: played too broadly, it can become more effortful than funny. The early work was not confined to those ensembles, however, and Storytelling (2001) put her in Todd Solondz's more uncomfortable territory as Vi. That choice offered something beyond another variation on the preppy supporting player. There is room for emotional complexity in Blair's understatement, even if the comedies made her easier to categorise.
Legally Blonde is worth an evening for its ensemble, though Witherspoon's Elle Woods is its chief pleasure. We warmed to it because she makes Elle's determination persuasive even when the jokes are indifferent. Blair's contribution is the supporting kind, giving that more energetic performance a contrasting presence rather than competing for the same laughs. The ensemble rapport works better than some of the comic timing, which we found could be sharper. Our affection for the cast does not make every joke land.
Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy (2004) and Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) give Blair a different use for that reserve as Liz Sherman. Playing a pyrokinetic superhero, she brings emotional weight to material that could easily invite overacting. These remain supporting parts, but they ask more of her than the familiar social awkwardness. We would welcome more roles that make use of her restraint without turning it into another comic mannerism. Try Hellboy if the preppy comedies have persuaded you she can only do one thing.
Biography
Selma Blair is an American actress. Born Selma Blair Beitner on 23 June 1972 in Southfield, Michigan, she is known for her roles in Cruel Intentions (1999) as Cecile Caldwell, Legally Blonde (2001) as Vivian Kensington, and the Hellboy films (2004 and 2008) as Liz Sherman.
She graduated from the University of Michigan and began her career in the mid-1990s with small roles and guest appearances in television series. Other credits include The Sweetest Thing (2002) and Storytelling (2001).
