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Happygrrl of the Month:
Rachel McAdams...
YOU WANTED TO KNOW
The Happygrrl of the Month title is given to a cool chick who exemplifies the true essence of being a Happygrrl. Which means that she possesses independence, a sense of humour, and a slightly neurotic side.
Our Happygrrl of the Month is…Rachel McAdams.
And we're not just saying that because the natural beauty was born in St. Thomas, Ontario, which is…oh, close enough to Toronto (well, London, but that's pretty close to Toronto). And we're also not just saying that because McAdams eventually found her way down to York University to pursue her acting career. No, we're saying this because McAdams is well on her way to becoming one of Hollywood's darlings, and we're proud to say she's a homegrown talent.
Unlike other notable Canadians that have achieved famed not only in the United States, but worldwide, McAdams has reserved a certain charm and innocence that often gets swept away by the ails of fame. The 28-year-old, after landing bit parts in mostly made-for-television movies, graduated from York's Fine Arts Theatre program, and went the way of all hopeful starlets - to sunny Los Angeles, where she won her first major Hollywood role in The Hot Chick (2002). Despite the fact that it is a Rob Schneider vehicle, and she plays a bitchy high school cheerleader who accidentally trades bodies with him and learns how evil high school girls can really be, and the movie has only grossed $35 million, it was a stepping-stone to bigger and better things.
Anyone who's seen Mean Girls (2004) can attest for McAdam's on-screen charisma. In the film, she plays Regina King, another bitchy high school girl who get hers in the end - not exactly a stretch from The Hot Chick, but one movie-goers seemed to like much better (its $86 million gross and box office reign will confirm this). The unexpected twist in the film, and one that producers probably didn't expect, is that we actually start feeling sorry for Regina when Cady (played by Miss Lindsay Lohan), the resident nice girl, turns on Regina for her past actions. Although Lohan was the star of this satirical Tina Fey vehicle, it was McAdams who truly stole the show. After all, you can't have a hero without a foil, and McAdams played hers to the tee.
But it was the syrupy The Notebook (2004) that propelled McAdams into the spotlight. Based on the Nicholas Sparks novel of the same name, The Notebook recounts a love story between Noah Calhoun (played by another Canadian on the rise, Ryan Gosling) and Allie Hamilton (McAdams), two star-crossed lovers who meet one summer in rural Seabrook, North Carolina. It's almost hard to picture McAdams going from blonde bitch to brunette socialite in the span of one year, but someone had to do it, and the masses are glad that it was she instead of, you know, someone like Hilary Duff.
Playing against Gosling's brooding, moody, sometimes intensely creepy and often hairy Noah, McAdams shows us, through Allie, a side of her that we hadn't quite seen yet. She's headstrong, vulnerable, and lovable, all at once. Of course, it always helps that the script is riddled with tear-jerking moments and bursts of love-against-all-odds trials and tribulations. Even though the on-screen chemistry between the two is at times forced (what with Gosling's intensity better fitted for past films such as The Believer and Murder by Numbers, not Nicholas Sparks novels), McAdams does what she can, and does it well. For example, when Noah stares at her, unnoticed, in a very disturbing way, she turns that act into something charming and alluring, instead of running out of the barn as most might have done. It is the few moments of intimacy that Gosling and McAdams share - natural and carefree - that truly win the audience over.
Obviously, someone at the powers that be stood up and took notice of this raw, fresh talent. McAdams next stars in The Wedding Crashers (slated for a 2005 release), alongside comedic heavyweights Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, who play two womanizers that crash weddings in order to take advantage of the romantic feeling in the air. Things start to fall apart when John (Wilson) falls for Claire (McAdams).
And all things considered, we don't blame him one bit. ¤ C.Ho.