In Twisted, Ashley is a cop who somehow has a drinking problem but manages to shoot to the top of her department after catching a serial killer. (Did she find him at the bar?) When her many one-night-stands (yes, she's also a slut) start showing up dead, she has a nervous breakdown complete with blackouts that make her think hey, maybe she's the killer!
...and then you do jail time so that when you get out six years later you can kill him without getting convicted, because you can't be found guilty of the same crime twice. Genius!
Ashley's character copes with an unexpected break-up by declaring that all men are not pigs, not dogs -- cows. She decides that they choose to leave "Old Cows" for "New Cows." (Um, we could have figured that out without the animal metaphor.) Then she impersonates a Dr. Ruth-type elderly relationship guru and causes a nationwide sensation.
Despite this, Someone Like You is one of my favorite romantic comedies. Really.
In the tradition of all children's movies, the adults are clueless. But in The Tooth Fairy, Dwayne Johnson is in on the gig -- seeing as he has to go around trading quarters for kids' teeth -- while Ashley Judd remains blissfully ignorant.
In Twisted, Ashley is a cop who somehow has a drinking problem but manages to shoot to the top of her department after catching a serial killer. (Did she find him at the bar?) When her many one-night-stands (yes, she's also a slut) start showing up dead, she has a nervous breakdown complete with blackouts that make her think hey, maybe she's the killer!
No, the fact that Ashley's character has had four children by three different men is not what's bizarre in this movie -- it's that she's cursed them with names like Brownie, Babe Ruth, Praline, etc. When it comes to Where the Heart Is, she makes Natalie Portman's character -- who gives birth in a Wal-Mart and names her baby Americus -- look normal.
Ashley's roles all seem to be glamorous women who fall apart, but in Bug she starts at rock bottom as a waitress mourning her son's death. Then she falls even further, when her new boyfriend goes crazy and convinces her that their motel room is filled with bugs that are creeping under their skin.
There's something about Ashley that just makes older gentlemen want to help her out. Morgan Freeman appears in two of her movies: 1) as Detective Alex Cross, working with Ashley to take down the man who kidnapped her in Kiss the Girls; 2) as a bitter former military attorney to prove her husband's innocence in High Crimes.
Then there's Samuel L. Jackson, the only person in Twisted who believes she's innocent.
