31 Years Ago, Nicole Kidman Gave The Best Performance Of Her Career In This Underrated Gem

Nicole Kidman is one of the most celebrated and versatile actors of her generation, and her best performance came in an underrated gem from the 1990s. Though she began her professional career in the 1980s, Kidman rocketed to stardom in the ’90s in films like Days of Thunder and Batman Forever. Behind her blockbuster success were bona fide acting chops.

Kidman is a rare performer who has the ability to balance rich roles with financial hits. Her name alone elevates any project, and there isn’t a genre she hasn’t touched. The Aussie icon has conquered the big and small screen, and her career is filled with underrated work. Her best performance actually came in a criminally underseen ’90s film.

To Die For Features Nicole Kidman’s Best Performance

Nicole Kidman was already a seasoned vet of over 10 years when she headlined Gus Van Sant’s To Die For, but it’s really the role where she came into her own. She stars as Suzanne Stone, a small-town woman obsessed with becoming a successful TV personality. That obsession turns dark when she enlists gullible teens to kill her husband.

Because To Die For is a hyper-stylized dark comedy, Stone isn’t necessarily a character that’s grounded in reality. Other parts allowed Kidman to do realism, but Stone was the exact opposite. She managed to make the character both hilarious and terrifying in equal measure, and she clearly understood what Van Sant was going for with To Die For.

Nicole Kidman won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical for her performance in To Die For.

In exaggerated roles, it’s easy for even the best actor to get lost in ridiculous scene-chewing. However, Kidman never loses the thread. She’s able to keep the audience invested despite being the villain of the piece. To Die For is like a greatest hits compilation of Kidman’s strengths, more so than any other part in her lengthy filmography.

To Die For Is One Of The Most Underrated Movies Of The ’90s

The ’90s produced a lot of hidden gems. To Die For is in good company among the other forgotten classics of the decade, but it has a little bit more than many other underrated flicks. It’s a brilliant dissection of contemporary tabloid news culture, and it hasn’t lost any of its bite as tabloids are replaced by social media newsfeeds.

It’s one of the few films that successfully balances multiple storytelling devices when it breaks the fourth wall, has mockumentary sequences, and tells a straightforward narrative too. Even its structure serves the theme of obsession through the camera lens. Suzanne wants nothing more than to be a star, and crime is one way to achieve fame.

Instead of shrugging and saying “whatever” like many ’90s movies, To Die For makes a point. It’s a movie destined for cult classic status, even though it stars one of Hollywood’s biggest names. Films that deal with such complex issues usually put their message first, but Nicole Kidman‘s performance makes To Die For a compelling piece of cinema.