Stephen Holden, The New York Times: “Mo'Nique…gives an award-worthy performance in Precious that makes Mary's monstrous behavior not only understandable but also almost sympathetic.”

Betsy Sharkey, The Los Angeles Times: “Mo'Nique's complete immersion into the role of mother as abuser and betrayer, riding a river of rage, won her the dramatic acting award at Sundance and has her name surfacing in awards talk now.”

John Anderson, Variety: “[It’s] is a horror movie, of course, and Mary is a monster, whose one glimmer of humanity—which Mo'Nique, who is utterly brilliant, reveals in a tour de force soliloquy at the finale—only makes her more horrible.

Oprah Winfrey: “I don't know an actress who wouldn't have wanted an opportunity to play that role (Mary). I think that is a wonderful character to play. I also don't know an actress in existence who could have done a better job [than Mo'Nique]… She knocked it out of the park and then built a new playground.”

The New York Post, Page Six: “Let the Oscar race begin. Dick Cavett, Ben Bradlee and Sally Quinn, Bob Balaban and Joel Schumacher saw Precious this weekend in East Hampton, and emerged in awe of the performance by Mo'Nique. "She doesn't steal the film—she kicks, screams and pummels it into an Oscar no-brainer," Forbes.com media critic Bill McCuddy told Page Six…. “If Oprah can get Barack [Obama] elected, she can get Mo'Nique either a Best Supporting Oscar or a Cabinet post."

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Nicole LaPorte is a West Coast reporter for The Daily Beast. A former film reporter for Variety, she has also written for The New Yorker, the Los Angeles Times Magazine, The New York Times, The New York Observer, and W.