100 Most Memorable Film Characters Of All Time: The Top Ten
overflowing with some of the most memorable characters ever in a film that is supposed to simply deal with a suburban life. Kevin Spacey is extraordinary in bringing an unusual charm and pathos to this character. Lester is a man stuck in his boring suburban life, with a wife and daughter who think he's a big loser. Lester doesn't deny that he's a loser. When the gorgeous friend of his daughter starts making eyes at him, he begins to get a new lease on life, as he rediscovers something inside of him that he felt would never come back. He also finds this in the young next door neighbor, Ricky Fitts, who inspires him to quit his dead end job in a wonderful scene. It's a wonderful performance to see Spacey take such joy in blackmailing his boss, and walking out of the office pumping his fist. And is there anything more moving than the film's end, when Lester finally finds where his happiness should lie, in an amazing exchange between Spacey and Mena Suvari. "It's been a long time since anybody asked me that ... I'm great."
7) Alex Forrest in FATAL ATTRACTION (Glenn Close) The character of Alex Forrest is so much more than just a homicidal scorned woman who boils bunnies and dies viciously in a thrilling finale. This is the one character on my list who I have to say is even more fully drawn in the original ending to the film which was removed when test audiences liked a more thrilling ending. Alex is one of the most haunting and complex female characters ever to grace the screen. Glenn Close portrays her with such a sense of inward sadness, we can sense this character's haunting loneliness almost from the first moment we see her. Her brief affair with Michael Douglas's married Dan Gallagher gives her the peak into a life she thought she might never have, and when she discovers that Dan simply wants to move on beyond her, her desperation and sadness lead her to nightmarish acts. From the horror of abducting the Gallagher's child only for one afternoon, which is stunning for its tension as we wonder what she will do, to the sadness on her face as she watches the happy family from outside, and in the original ending, to the tragedy of her finally taking her own life, we experience the true pains
Latest Articles