The TV guest spot is often used by film actors (or TV actors-turned-film actors) when they want to show range that they haven’t been able to display on the big screen. Hilary Duff’s turn as a black widow on last night’s Ghost Whisperer was just that. Did she succeed? It depends on what scene you watched: Her voice was still a little too mousy to convey real fear when she was being levitated in her apartment (next door to Eli’s) or left dangling off the side of a building. But, in the end, when she explained why she actually cared about this particular terminally ill cancer patient, who she’d tricked into believing that she was dying, too, so he’d leave her $250,000 for a last-hope treatment, I felt something. (Other than that she has truly fantastic hair, which I’d felt from her first moment onscreen.) When she got out the man’s ashes, I saw a woman — not the girl who gets me to watch A Cinderella Story every time it’s on cable. Duff will also guest star on the April 28 episode of Law & Order: SVU, playing the mother and prime suspect in the case of a missing two-year-old girl. Personally, I think this is a better way to transition into adult roles than putting a scorpion down your pants, which she did in War, Inc. (Still, Duff has a comedy pilot at NBC called Barely Legal, based on the story of a woman who passed the California bar exam at age 18. So maybe she isn’t in a rush to grow up after all.)
For real Ghost Whisperer fans, last night was about getting back to the Jim saga. He has no memory of being Ghost Jim or Sam. He finally started asking the questions we’ve all been pondering: How will people treat him when they think he’s moved in on Jim’s grieving widow? Who will he be? The answers: Not well, and Sam, because Sam took the math and science prerequisites in college that could finally help Jim fulfill his dream of going to med school. I was a little weirded out by Jim using Sam like that, but then I remembered that he stepped into his dead body, so you know, borrowing college transcripts is really nothing. And David Conrad’s soft, good-guy voice goes a long way in smoothing out any story hiccups. I loved that Melinda told him he didn’t have to work hard for her and be patient, though it was a little cruel to cut off that kiss when they did. I’ll have my Jim back when he’s wearing a tank to bed.
Comments (1-14) of 14 Add your comment
I don’t think she can really act. its always the same. I agree she sounded mousy and way too much like an 11 year old. It almost made me stop watching the episode. She looks great though!
I don’t think she can really act. its always the same. I agree she sounded mousy and way too much like an 11 year old. It almost made me stop watching the episode. She looks great though!
i think she’s progressing really well & it showed in ghost whisperer. i think she did a great job & she looked beautiful as usual
She is progressing well as an actress, which will be very apparent in What Goes Up with a limited theatrical run this May.
Hey Mandi, your articles about Ghost Whisperer are the best, and your articles in general. I’m eating my words, because I watched Gossip Girl for the first time via – well… – and I loved it, I’m hooked it. Anyway, Hillary was great, I still can’t get over Jamie Kennedy on the show. Still a terrible actor. Us over at the CBS Ghost Whisperer forum are upset cause now frickin Jamie Kennedy is getting more screen time than hotness monster David Conrad. Not good at all.
i thought hilary was good! she’s very well improving and i can’t wait to see her future projects!
Ms. Duff would have convinced me more of her acting talent if she had managed to shed real tears during her crying moments instead of batting those pretty dry eyes.
…Hillary Duff is a beautiful girl, but I thought she was awful as an actress; I think Taylor Swift was so much better when she was on CSI…and I agree with Isabel; I couldn’t help but think that I wasn’t watching Ghost Whisperer, I was watching The Jamie & Jennifer Show…I liked Jennifer’s eye makeup…
I watched the episode and was extremely disappointed. Hillary Duff is great and a joy to watch but it was a pain to see the direction the show has taken for some time and the more they go with this story line the more Auden the are losing. The chemistry between Jim and Melinda is being killed by the airtime Eli and Melinde are getting. Honestly I want Eli out of the show as of yesterday. I want more focus on the shop, Melinda’s mother, the world outside Grandview, perhaps a romantic actual trip to Jim’s mom house (if Jim is finally back to who he was), and more Jim and Melinda.
she is a excellenty actress.She is transitioning from disney roles to adult roles quite well.I hope to see more of her in upcoming tv roles.Keep it up hilary!
mmm the episode was alright, not that great, its all getting repetitive and a bit annoying, I kinda stopped watching it towards the end, wasn’t engaged in it at all
This one is lovely. Ever saw this one’s profile on —– W e a l t h y R o m a n c e s #####****** COM —– , just for millionaire & celebrities.
Actually who am I kidding? I was just trying to be positive, but I agree with you Mandi, Hillary Duff’s acting was crap.
i love her so much
she’s really a good actress !!
i’m a big Fan<3