She played the part great but her face is legitimately repugnant. I know Rashida Jones screen time was 80% with Leslie to help offset the wretched blonde but it didn't work for me. Also she looked old. I didn't buy a 45 year old looking troll marrying an early 30's Ben.
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shareWell, I wouldn't go as far as 'ugly', but she isn't 'attractive', and the show making all men drool over her is quite the unrealistic stretch.
She's below average, and can be repulsive at times, but she has an interesting look about her, because sometimes she can almost pull off the 'wearing a pretty dress to look cute'-look, even though her face shouldn't technically afford that to happen.
Her face is sometimes unpleasant, sometimes pleasant, so I understand someone looking at her and feeling repulsion, but after watching a couple of seasons, it has grown on me a bit, so I don't really mind her face that much, but sometimes it's a bit jarring because she looks 'pretty from afar' and then BAM! there's a close-up and you start thinking about certain types of canines..
The problem isn't really her looks - she's below average, certainly NOT beautiful (anyone thinking she's beautiful has not seen beauty, or has some kind of brain malfunction), but the problem is that she doesn't have 'charisma'.
Michael Scott, so Steven Carell, actually has amazing charisma, so he's always fun to look at, even though his face isn't exactly Tom Cruise, either. Steven is like a poor man's Jim Carrey in a way, and he can really act and get into a wacky, silly role or scene and still be believable. I could look at Michael Scott 'forever' without getting bored. I would need a really good excuse to keep watching this woman's face.
Someone says that looks do not matter... really? Can anyone be more clueless? Of course looks matter in a friggin' VISUAL MEDIUM that you have to watch to get it. Your eyeballs receive zillions of photons from looks constantly, you are constantly being bombarded by people's faces, so at least they could have those faces be pretty, pleasant, interesting, charismatic or something.
When it comes to men, looks don't matter, because women don't get attracted to looks (despite ALL the claims, even from women), looks matter when it comes to women, because men DO.
Of course 'The Office' had its share of ugly characters - I don't think anyone can look at Phyllis and think 'ooh, what a gorgeous beauty', even though even that fat hag is pretty much the only 'The Office' character this blonde post-wall hag is better looking than. (I hope this sentence makes grammatical sense..)
I think her 'look', that IS at least 'slightly ugly', is wrong for a lead role, wrong for a comedy, wrong for a TV show, because it's not just 'plain' or 'neutral', but sometimes (OK, many times) ACTIVELY repulsive, and this isn't some hater- or troller(it's not a 'troll', it's 'troller', and you are revealing how you are just a hater of the truth that you can't handle by immediately employing such terminology instead of some kind of actual arguments)-speak, but just an undeniable fact.
She probably wasn't all that pretty even when her body was young, but to put a post-wall hag as some kind of lead in a show and expect no reaction to her repulsiveness is expecting a bit too much of the audience, or being a bit too clueless about what works in a TV show and what doesn't.
This feels like a really poor man's 'The Office', except that Michael Scott is fun and exciting to look at, and gives you a 'pleasant feeling' about her face, whereas this hag with her weird eyebrows, too much make-up, bulgy eyes, weird expressions in a bad way, unrealistic facial reactions, limited acting ability..
..it's just CONFUSING. Why did they put her in the lead? It makes me think she must have blackmailed someone or something. It can't be 'because she slept with the producer', because what producer would choose THAT over someone slightly average-looking or better?
In my opinion, she's too old and talentless for this role, but even that could work if she had 'charisma', but instead, her mug is weirdly ugly for this kind of role. It can 'appear cute-ish' SOMEtimes, but most of the time, she does look like something you do NOT want to look at.
Sorry, but this is a fact.