Those of us who have become fans of Maria Bello have learned to take her wherever we can get her — she has one of the oddest resumes in modern film — but it is really depressing to see the actress serving as Rachel Weisz’s understudy in “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.”
Bello possesses a devastating combination of talent, charisma and sensuality that reminds me of those great European actresses of the 1960s and ’70s. Stars such as Monica Vitti, Anna Magnani and Jeanne Moreau who helped to shake up Hollywood notions of what constitutes a female movie star.
I first noticed Bello in the 2000 Jerry Bruckheimer film, “Coyote Ugly,” in which she was very funny as the tough owner of the Manhattan Meatpacking District bar that gave the movie its title.
In what was to become a trademark Bello move, the actress made a rather unbelievable character so interesting that some of us wished the film was about the bar owner rather than the sweet bar maid played by Piper Perabo.
The actress moved on to much better roles in “The Cooler” (2002), “A History of Violence” (2005) and “World Trade Center” (2006), but still seemed to be off the radar of much of the press and the movie audience.
Bello appears to be a no-nonsense woman off-screen. She has never tried to hide her age (41) and has been publicly critical of the movie ratings problems suffered by “The Cooler,” going so far as to give an interview in the scorching IFC expose, “This Film is Not Yet Rated” (2006).
The actress is fine in “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” — which is opening on Friday — but the movie never lets her cut loose. What a waste to strand this major talent in the middle of a senseless CGI spectacle.
Fortunately, Bello has just finished filming what sounds like a much more substantial vehicle, writer-director Rebecca Miller’s “The Private Lives of Pippa Lee,” which was shot in Connecticut last spring and will be released next year.
In this 2009 ensemble piece, Bello will be seen with Julianne Moore, Monica Bellucci and Winona Ryder.
