I have to admit I'm not a huge Winona Ryder fan. In my opinion, she never seems to turn into a character. I always see Winona Ryder the actress on the screen. I always think "Oh, there's Winona biting reality" or "Oh, there's Winona making an American quilt" or "Oh, there's Winona aging innocently" or "Oh, there's Winona singing a country song with her mother" (no, wait, that's a different Wynonna) but you get the idea.

So it was hard for me to get Winona Ryder the actress out of my mind as she plays a recent high school graduate committed to a mental institution for attempting suicide. That little pixie haircut just seemed out of place in a movie set in the 1960's with all the other actresses sporting bad, period wigs.

Angelina Jolie does a great job (in a bad wig) as the resident trouble maker in the institution. Unfortunately, you've seen all her good lines in the movie trailer and television commercials.

Whoopi Goldberg (in a big, bad, funky, afro wig) plays the tough nurse with the heart of gold. Such a departure for her.

Brittany Murphy (in a bad Marlo Thomas as That Girl wig) is once again mesmerizing as the doomed daughter of a delicatessen owner.

And while I'm on this fake hair kick, even the worst false beard in movie history does not diminish Jared Leto's (Hottie McHottie) beauty in his far too small role as Winona's quasi-boyfriend.

I know, it's a journey of self-discovery but I wanted more.

And here's a note: There is no way the girls could have been watching The Wizard of Oz on television in the middle of the day in the 1960's. It was shown on television once a year in the evening. Don't mess with my childhood memories.

Listen to me: Oh, there's Winona Ryder as a girl being interrupted.

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