Katherine Heigl is, by all accounts, a handful.
She's demanding. She's outspoken. She's difficult -- it's rumored that none of her leading men want to repeat the experience. She has a positive knack for saying the wrong thing in almost every situation. And her attempts to apologize - like this EW cover story a few months ago - come off as pretty insincere, even when it's clear she's struggling to play nice and say the right things.
But here's the thing: I kinda like her.
She can do drama; even though I quickly tired of her character and storyline on Grey's Anatomy, I had to admit her acting was top-notch. She can do comedy; she carries as much weight in Knocked Up, both in terms of hilarity and heart, as its more famous - and lovable - star Seth Rogen. She can play a bitch, as she did in Roswell, but she can also be vulnerable onscreen. She has talent.
And maybe it's my liberal feminist tendencies taking over again, but I feel like she's gotten a disproportionate amount of flak just for refusing to pretend to be a nice, meek, quiet girl. I like that she speaks up, and that she's not great at sugarcoating her opinions. I even agreed with her - although I shook my head at her somewhat tactless choice of words - about the gender roles in Judd Apatow's movies.
What I am concerned about is Heigl's career.
27 Dresses was charming enough, although I felt that her mousiness in the movie seemed forced, and you know how I can't stand the Hollywood version of the Ugly Duckling story. But the movies she's chosen since then are pure drivel. Even the previews couldn't make The Ugly Truth look good, and that's always a bad sign. Killers looked - as Entertainment Weekly put it - like a retread of Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Heigl continues to take roles in movies that don't fit her, and with costars who can't handle her. Like it or not, she IS smart and strong-willed and a little caustic. Here are some suggestions for how she can revitalize her career:
1) Ace her performance in One For the Money. I already have my misgivings about Heigl's turn in the movie adaptation of Janet Evanovich's wildly popular Stephanie Plum novels. Evanovich supposedly first considered Sandra Bullock to play the scrappy half-Italian half-Hungarian bounty hunter from New Jersey -- it's in fact not too far of a departure from her Miss Congeniality antics -- and despite her age, most fans still consider her the best choice for the part. Heigl is too statuesque and Aryan-looking to fit the image of Stephanie Plum. That said, it's a done deal, and she might as well make the character her own. Movie adaptations of books are hardly ever letter-perfect, and Heigl is sassy enough to make the movie entertaining, provided it's well written and that the rest of the cast is good.
2) Take a part in a great ensemble or an indie film. Whether it's another TV show or a movie in which she's not the star, a smaller part might be good for Heigl -- or at least for her image. She's been everywhere, indiscriminately, for the last couple of years. Were she to step away from the spotlight and support other talented actors again, she might worm her way back into the good graces of both fans and Hollywood power players. Alternatively, she could star in a small movie. The lack of media attention and promotional campaigns would allow her to cultivate her career in relative obscurity.
3) Step away from Hollywood entirely. Heigl is married and has an adopted baby girl. Why not take some time away from work? She's done enough in the last few years that she should be financially solvent, and in her case the notoriously short memory of Tinseltown might be a good thing. If she steps away to concentrate on her personal life, she might be able to change her own behavior in the future - or at least give us all a break from it.
4) Just be pickier. Heigl is burning her bridges both in terms of her behavior and her movie choices. I'd love to see her in a good period movie -- I can easily imagine her, hair curled and bright red lipstick on, bantering with someone like George Clooney. She has a very self-sufficient Katharine Hepburn sort of vibe, and she needs strong costars, ideally quirky ones who are a little older than she is -- think Clooney, Brad Pitt, John Cusack ....
Can Heigl's career be saved? I think so. But she's the only one who can decide to do it.
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