Alison Janney vs. Eve Arden

You’re wrong.

I see it.

That scene in I, Tonya where she says 'children need correction and she kicks the chair her daughter was supposed to be sitting in, flipping it over, was one of my favorite moments of her on film. Totally a modern Ms. Arden.

She's aged into Arden territory though, she wasn't there yet in Drop Dead Gorgeous (probably my favorite performance of hers).

Arden's humor is so arch. I love her on "Our Miss Brooks". It's almost like an elevated drag act.

Eve Arden fans from TV need to seek out MILDRED PIERCE. She is an invaluable ingredient in that fabulous, campy stew.

I like Allison Janney but she is no Eve Arden. No one delivers risque double entendres, snappy retorts and razor sharp putdowns like Miss Eve Arden.

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R6 To be fair, if Janney had the same level of content, she could deliver. She came close at the end of The Help, but writing quality in films isnt what it used to be. All tech and flash surface without much depth.

Janney, when she is not playing broadly or absurdly, conveys a weariness in her sardonic exterior. We enjoy her because we know she has depths behind the crusty persona. They reveal themselves, usually when she's outraged.

Arden was a rock, the same on the surface as at the core. Her sardonic demeanor was honest, clear-headed and never more than it took to push the cherry from a Singapore sling into her mouth. And you knew she got more play than she ever let on.

Arden was a comedic character actress who played the Eve Arden character within a narrow band. Perfect.

Janney is a dramatic (meaning capable of playing a full range of characters, comedic or tragic or current sensi-frau melodramatic) whose bargain is seeming to contain more than her character permits, but life always will be full of disappointment for her.