1.) Tina Carlyle in The Mask (1994)
In this film Diaz played the damsel in distress as an eye catching nightclub singer. Although it was a minor role (it was still the female lead) it turned out to be her breakthrough performance.
Most Memorable Lines:
Synopsis- Forget about her acting for a minute, Cameron Diaz was smoking hot in this movie. In fact, she's so attractive in this film that I made it into an adjective. In describing good looking girls sometimes I say, "She's like Cameron Diaz in The Mask hot," just like how on hot, sweaty days in the summer some people say, "It's Africa hot out."
Similarly, my boy Browny has told me a number of times that he got his first ever erection while watching The Rock (1996). In the beginning there's a scene where Vanessa Marcil (who I love) is stradling Nicolas Cage in a car. Now I can't exactly remember my first career boner, but if I had to guess I'd go with Cameron Diaz in The Mask. By the way, phenomenal conversation piece for guys.
2.) Mary in There's Something About Mary (1998)
In this Farrelly brothers comedy Cameron plays the girl that seemingly all guys fall for. Every guy knows that, "there's just something about her" feeling and I think this was the first time it was ever explicitly portrayed on the silver screen.
Most Memorable Lines:
Ted: Do you think maybe you wanna maybe, I don't know, go out to dinner, you know, catch up on old times?
Mary: Didn't we just do that?
Ted: Oh, uh...
Mary: I'm fucking with you, Ted!
Mary: I want a guy who can play 36 holes of golf, and still have enough energy to take Warren and me to a baseball game, and eat sausages, and beer, not lite beer, but beer. That's my ad, print it up.
Brenda: "Fatty who likes golf and beer." Gee, Mary, where are you gonna find a gem like that?
Pat Healy: My real passion is my hobby.
Mary: Really, what's that?
Pat Healy: I work with retards.
Mary: Isn't that a little, uhm, politically incorrect?
Pat Healy: Well, heh, to hell with that... no one's going to tell me who I can and can't work with, right?
Mary: No, I mean...
Pat Healy: We got this one kid, Mongo... He's got a forehead like a drive-in movie theatre, but he's a good ship. So we don't bust his chops too much. So, one day Mongo gets out of his cage...
Mary: They keep him in a cage?
Pat Healy: Well, it's just an enclosure...
Mary: No, but they keep him confined?
Pat Healy: Right, yeah.
Mary: That's bullshit!
Pat Healy: Well, that's what I said! So, I went out and I got him, uh, I got him a leash.
Mary: A leash?
Pat Healy: Yeah, one of those ones you can hook on the clothesline, and he can run back and forth and, uh, there's plenty of room for him to dig and play. That kid is really, uh, he's really blossomed.
Synopsis- In many ways this is Cameron's signature role. Not only is she the central figure of the film, but she sort of is her character Mary in real life. She's quirky, goofy, and fun and everybody seems to like her even though she's never really had a critically acclaimed performance.
3.) Christina Pagniacci in Any Given Sunday (1999)
In this film she plays a young, bitchy woman who has just inherited a professional football team.
Most Memorable Lines:
Christina Pagniacci: No intensity, no victory.
Christina Pagniacci: [in passing a player in the locker room exposed in all his manhood] Don't stiffen on me.
Synopsis- This role was a little out of Cameron's league, but I think she had a good grasp of the feisty, cold-heartedness that was needed to play Pagniacci. She kind of reminds me of the female owner in Major League (1989) except that she definitely has much more sex appeal. There's just something about women in power that attracts men. I think it's that guys want to see them in a situation where they no longer have the power, so to speak, and most guys feel like they can achieve this goal sexually.
4.) Jenny Everdeane in Gangs of New York (2002)
This is probably the best movie that Cameron Diaz has ever been in and her role as the most attractive girl in town, who happens to be a thief, is a minor one, but again it's the female lead.
Most Memorable Lines:
Bill: Anything in your pockets?
Jenny: I ain't started working yet.
Amsterdam Vallon: Is there anyone in the five points you haven't fucked?
Jenny: Yes, you.
Jenny: When I was twelve years old, my mother was dead, and I was livin' in a doorway. He took me in. Took care of me, in his way. After they cut out the baby... well, he doesn't fancy girls that's scarred up. But you might as well know in your own mind that he never laid a hand on me until I asked him to.
Synopsis- It's kind of hard to stand out in a movie with Leonardo DiCaprio and Daniel Dey-Lewis, but that's not to say that Cameron's performance was bad. In fact, she was good, but I don't think anyone thinks of her when Gangs of New York is brought up.
5.) Amanda Woods in The Holiday (2006)
Don't judge me because I've seen this movie. A girl made me watch it. In this film Cameron plays one of my dream professions. She's an editor of movie trailers, which I doubt is an actual profession. Wouldn't the director just take care of it? Either way, in the film she gets fed up with the hustle and bustle of everyday life and decides to take a vacation. She ends up swapping houses with a woman from England (Kate Winslet) and she falls in love with that woman's brother (Jude Law).
Most Memorable Lines:
Amanda: I need some peace and quiet... or whatever it is people go away for.
Amanda: You know Graham, I just broke up with someone and considering you just showed up and you're insanely good-looking and probably won't remember me anyway...
I'm thinking we should have sex... If you want.
Graham: Is that a trick question?
Amanda: Sex makes everything more complicated. Even not having it, because the not having it... makes it complicated.
Graham: Long distance relationships can work, you know.
Amanda: Really? I can't make one work when I live in the same house with someone.
Synopsis- This romantic comedy was interesting because 2 of the 4 stars aren't the least bit funny (Winslet and Law). What they did was pair the funny leads (Diaz and Jack Black) with the not so funny ones. The movie still isn't funny by my standards, but I certainly applaud their effort. Cameron plays her part quite well, but I don't think it stands out at all. The dual storyline sort of jumbles everything together.
6.) Joy McNally in What Happens in Vegas (2008)
This is quickly becoming one of my favorite movies of all time even though it gets negative points for featuring Queen Latifah. Diaz is once again in her wheelhouse playing a day trader at the NYSE who needs a break after being dumped by her fiance. Her goofy and fun personality shines so bright that it made me like Ashton Kutcher.
Most Memorable Lines:
Tipper: You know what? I can get a couple of my brother's loser ass friends to go over to Mason's apartment, knock on the door and when he opens it wham! They'll junk-punch him all up in his man business and he'll fall to the floor whaling and crying "Why?" and then we'll say "You know why!"
Joy McNally: Wow! Did you just make that up?
Tipper: No, I thought about it a lot on the way over
Joy McNally: Is there any part of the night, I don't know, maybe say the part where I was about to marry the rebound guy, that you thought, 'hey oh my God, this is a really good time for an intervention'?
Tipper: Seriously?
Joy McNally: Yeah.
Tipper: I like... threw up in my own purse... so...
Joy McNally: The grown-ups have to go to work today... What are you going to do all day?
Jack Fuller: I don't know yet
[shoves cereal in mouth]
Joy McNally: Hmph.
Jack Fuller: I'd rather do nothing and be happy than do something I know I don't love.
Joy McNally: Words to live by, Yanni.
Synopsis- The movie is hysterical, but as you can see Cameron doesn't really have many of the funny lines. She is sort of the serious, uptight one, but that unravels as her relationship with Kutcher develops.
When I think of Cameron Diaz I now think of this movie. It's literally her ideal role. It's a hysterical romantic comedy and her character's personality in many ways mirrors her own.
In this film Diaz played the damsel in distress as an eye catching nightclub singer. Although it was a minor role (it was still the female lead) it turned out to be her breakthrough performance.
Most Memorable Lines:
Synopsis- Forget about her acting for a minute, Cameron Diaz was smoking hot in this movie. In fact, she's so attractive in this film that I made it into an adjective. In describing good looking girls sometimes I say, "She's like Cameron Diaz in The Mask hot," just like how on hot, sweaty days in the summer some people say, "It's Africa hot out."
Similarly, my boy Browny has told me a number of times that he got his first ever erection while watching The Rock (1996). In the beginning there's a scene where Vanessa Marcil (who I love) is stradling Nicolas Cage in a car. Now I can't exactly remember my first career boner, but if I had to guess I'd go with Cameron Diaz in The Mask. By the way, phenomenal conversation piece for guys.
2.) Mary in There's Something About Mary (1998)
In this Farrelly brothers comedy Cameron plays the girl that seemingly all guys fall for. Every guy knows that, "there's just something about her" feeling and I think this was the first time it was ever explicitly portrayed on the silver screen.
Most Memorable Lines:
Ted: Do you think maybe you wanna maybe, I don't know, go out to dinner, you know, catch up on old times?
Mary: Didn't we just do that?
Ted: Oh, uh...
Mary: I'm fucking with you, Ted!
Mary: I want a guy who can play 36 holes of golf, and still have enough energy to take Warren and me to a baseball game, and eat sausages, and beer, not lite beer, but beer. That's my ad, print it up.
Brenda: "Fatty who likes golf and beer." Gee, Mary, where are you gonna find a gem like that?
Pat Healy: My real passion is my hobby.
Mary: Really, what's that?
Pat Healy: I work with retards.
Mary: Isn't that a little, uhm, politically incorrect?
Pat Healy: Well, heh, to hell with that... no one's going to tell me who I can and can't work with, right?
Mary: No, I mean...
Pat Healy: We got this one kid, Mongo... He's got a forehead like a drive-in movie theatre, but he's a good ship. So we don't bust his chops too much. So, one day Mongo gets out of his cage...
Mary: They keep him in a cage?
Pat Healy: Well, it's just an enclosure...
Mary: No, but they keep him confined?
Pat Healy: Right, yeah.
Mary: That's bullshit!
Pat Healy: Well, that's what I said! So, I went out and I got him, uh, I got him a leash.
Mary: A leash?
Pat Healy: Yeah, one of those ones you can hook on the clothesline, and he can run back and forth and, uh, there's plenty of room for him to dig and play. That kid is really, uh, he's really blossomed.
Synopsis- In many ways this is Cameron's signature role. Not only is she the central figure of the film, but she sort of is her character Mary in real life. She's quirky, goofy, and fun and everybody seems to like her even though she's never really had a critically acclaimed performance.
3.) Christina Pagniacci in Any Given Sunday (1999)
In this film she plays a young, bitchy woman who has just inherited a professional football team.
Most Memorable Lines:
Christina Pagniacci: No intensity, no victory.
Christina Pagniacci: [in passing a player in the locker room exposed in all his manhood] Don't stiffen on me.
Synopsis- This role was a little out of Cameron's league, but I think she had a good grasp of the feisty, cold-heartedness that was needed to play Pagniacci. She kind of reminds me of the female owner in Major League (1989) except that she definitely has much more sex appeal. There's just something about women in power that attracts men. I think it's that guys want to see them in a situation where they no longer have the power, so to speak, and most guys feel like they can achieve this goal sexually.
4.) Jenny Everdeane in Gangs of New York (2002)
This is probably the best movie that Cameron Diaz has ever been in and her role as the most attractive girl in town, who happens to be a thief, is a minor one, but again it's the female lead.
Most Memorable Lines:
Bill: Anything in your pockets?
Jenny: I ain't started working yet.
Amsterdam Vallon: Is there anyone in the five points you haven't fucked?
Jenny: Yes, you.
Jenny: When I was twelve years old, my mother was dead, and I was livin' in a doorway. He took me in. Took care of me, in his way. After they cut out the baby... well, he doesn't fancy girls that's scarred up. But you might as well know in your own mind that he never laid a hand on me until I asked him to.
Synopsis- It's kind of hard to stand out in a movie with Leonardo DiCaprio and Daniel Dey-Lewis, but that's not to say that Cameron's performance was bad. In fact, she was good, but I don't think anyone thinks of her when Gangs of New York is brought up.
5.) Amanda Woods in The Holiday (2006)
Don't judge me because I've seen this movie. A girl made me watch it. In this film Cameron plays one of my dream professions. She's an editor of movie trailers, which I doubt is an actual profession. Wouldn't the director just take care of it? Either way, in the film she gets fed up with the hustle and bustle of everyday life and decides to take a vacation. She ends up swapping houses with a woman from England (Kate Winslet) and she falls in love with that woman's brother (Jude Law).
Most Memorable Lines:
Amanda: I need some peace and quiet... or whatever it is people go away for.
Amanda: You know Graham, I just broke up with someone and considering you just showed up and you're insanely good-looking and probably won't remember me anyway...
I'm thinking we should have sex... If you want.
Graham: Is that a trick question?
Amanda: Sex makes everything more complicated. Even not having it, because the not having it... makes it complicated.
Graham: Long distance relationships can work, you know.
Amanda: Really? I can't make one work when I live in the same house with someone.
Synopsis- This romantic comedy was interesting because 2 of the 4 stars aren't the least bit funny (Winslet and Law). What they did was pair the funny leads (Diaz and Jack Black) with the not so funny ones. The movie still isn't funny by my standards, but I certainly applaud their effort. Cameron plays her part quite well, but I don't think it stands out at all. The dual storyline sort of jumbles everything together.
6.) Joy McNally in What Happens in Vegas (2008)
This is quickly becoming one of my favorite movies of all time even though it gets negative points for featuring Queen Latifah. Diaz is once again in her wheelhouse playing a day trader at the NYSE who needs a break after being dumped by her fiance. Her goofy and fun personality shines so bright that it made me like Ashton Kutcher.
Most Memorable Lines:
Tipper: You know what? I can get a couple of my brother's loser ass friends to go over to Mason's apartment, knock on the door and when he opens it wham! They'll junk-punch him all up in his man business and he'll fall to the floor whaling and crying "Why?" and then we'll say "You know why!"
Joy McNally: Wow! Did you just make that up?
Tipper: No, I thought about it a lot on the way over
Joy McNally: Is there any part of the night, I don't know, maybe say the part where I was about to marry the rebound guy, that you thought, 'hey oh my God, this is a really good time for an intervention'?
Tipper: Seriously?
Joy McNally: Yeah.
Tipper: I like... threw up in my own purse... so...
Joy McNally: The grown-ups have to go to work today... What are you going to do all day?
Jack Fuller: I don't know yet
[shoves cereal in mouth]
Joy McNally: Hmph.
Jack Fuller: I'd rather do nothing and be happy than do something I know I don't love.
Joy McNally: Words to live by, Yanni.
Synopsis- The movie is hysterical, but as you can see Cameron doesn't really have many of the funny lines. She is sort of the serious, uptight one, but that unravels as her relationship with Kutcher develops.
When I think of Cameron Diaz I now think of this movie. It's literally her ideal role. It's a hysterical romantic comedy and her character's personality in many ways mirrors her own.
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