It was quite irritating that Toni Collette couldn't keep her accent in constant check. She kept drifting in and out of her English accent. I just couldn't figure out what the point of that was. I always knew she wasn't a very good actress, but at least she could have applied herself a bit more for this movie.
shareHer character was based on Angie Bowie, who spoke like that.
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"I don't keep typing paper in the closet!"
The changes in accent are deliberate. The character Mandy is an American whose transformation to a London party girl was a source of amusement to all, as Cecil says.
During the glam heyday, her British accent is pretty much flawless and she loses it only during sudden emotional outbursts like when she yells at Shannon. When she serves the papers to Brian, she is wavering in-between British and American. By the time Arthur interviews her, she has dropped all pretense and uses her own American accent, only occasionally adopting a consciously affected British accent for sarcastic emphasis. Her accent reflects her emotions and her situation.
I think it's a pretty good performance, considering that Toni Collette is neither American nor British but actually Australian.
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Toni Collette is a AMZING actress. There, now I can sleep at night.
shareLOL Madonna is just who I thought of when I was watching Toni's performance -- I got the impression that her character was a wannabe Brit or something.
But yeah, I like her; and although I didn't think she had much to work with here, I thought she did a good job with it. :)
"I know I'm not normal -- but I'm trying to change!" ~ Muriel's Wedding
Grahamef describes it precisely.
And Toni is a good actress!
I can't believe anyone thought the accent slipping was bad acting.
oi. dumbass.
toni collette is one of the best.
and she was riffing on those people who move from one side of the pond to the other and try a fake a new accent. sometimes they do it well, sometimes they suck at it.
modern example: madonna gone madge.
I AGREE with you, grahamef!!! And I thought this part of her character was HILARIOUS!! I LOVED IT!
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I'm surprised by the amount of people who don't seem to get that this was intentional- it fit her character perfectly to be adopting a persona and then shelving it and picking up another when trends/times changed. The fact that the CHARACTER did that was annoying to me but it was brilliant and said a lot about her IMO. :)
"What a stupid line."
"What a sick, masochistic author."
Yes exactly -- it is pointed out numerous times that Toni's character is an American who adopts an English "London party girl" accent when she moves across the pond -- and then reverts to her American accent (which Toni does very well in her films -- she is an awesome f;cking actress) after she divorces Brian and leaves the London glam scene behind. In the interview scene with Arthur she has an American accent entirely except for a few words that she says in an exaggerated English accent in an expression of ridicule and bitterness. Her character is (loosely) based on Angie Bowie, an American art student who also adopted a "London party girl" accent when she hooked up with Bowie -- and then post-Bowie returned to her native accent. If you watch her in interviews, many years post-Bowie, she will still occasionally say a word or two in a sarcastic, overdone English accent to make fun of some aspect of the Bowie days -- much like Mandy does in the interview scene.
The shaky accent in this film isn't Toni's or the Irish Rhys Meyers who performed incredibly at such a young age as the English Slade -- but Ewan's "American" accent.
"Hearts and kidneys are tinker toys! I am talking about the central nervous system!"
. . . and I remember almost every review referring to her as "[Rhys-Meyers'] long-suffering, put-upon, American party-girl wife who narrates the story in a sense." And I think she's a fantastic actress. I just happened to see "Little Miss Sunshine the other night."
shareIt was clearly intentional (and she's not English, so why would she drift into an English accent accidentally?)
She's done US accents perfectly well in countless other films.
These bastards!
How did you not get that the accent was intentional? Its so obvious! She's a brilliant actress
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