Dearie Awards 2009: Woman of the Year - JANE LYNCH

We’ve loved Jane Lynch since we were first blown away by her performance as butch lesbian dog trainer Christy Cummings in Christopher Guest’s Best in Show. We also loved her in A Mighty Wind, The 40 Year-Old Virgin and countless TV guest spots. Heck, we would have even loved her in Taxi Killer if we knew what that film was. This year, however, Lynch has burst onto the national consciousness as Sue Sylvester on Glee.

As Faculty Coach of the fictional Cheerios cheerleading squad, Lynch’s Sue is a tracksuit-wearing ball-buster who brings new meaning to the word “power mad”. As awesome as it is to watch Matthew Morrison turn a band of high school outcasts into Glee Club stars, we can’t keep our eyes off Lynch, the perfect nemesis, who received a Golden Globe nomination for her work. Every politically incorrect line out of her mouth is a gut-buster, and Lynch is the only actress around who can pull off the outrageous dialogue and still make you love Sue Sylvester.

The openly gay actress also had a pretty great year at the movies, the highpoint being her sublime performance as Julia Child’s sister, Dorothy McWilliams, in Julie & Julia. It’s another testament to Lynch’s talent and charisma that when she’s on screen, we actually tear our attention away from the brilliant Meryl Streep (last year's Dearie winner for Woman of the Year) as Child.

2010 promises to bring even more hilarity to Sue’s Corner on Glee, as Lynch has been teasing audiences with the possibility of Sue Sylvester singing! For now, we have to content ourselves with her rendition of "Baby Got Bacne" from Another Cinderella Story. For all you do, Jane, this Dearie’s for you!

Honorable Mentions:
The diminutive diva known as Kristin Chenoweth was everywhere this past year, charming everyone (including Emmy) along the way. And 2009 was Sandra Bullock's year, with two hit movies (The Proposal, The Blind Side) earning her two Golden Globe nominations and, maybe, her first Oscar.

By Neil Cohen, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Phoenix's Echo Magazine.