The next thing you know, they'll want to be able to vote: "North Country"

Funny how I missed this one in theaters. Usually I'm up for a couple of hours of pure shame at simply being a man.

Actually, I might have gone to see "North Country" with My Eternal Beloved if she hadn't caught it with a friend. You know women ... always sticking together. Just as well, since the sight of Charlize Theron in anything but "Monster" is enough to trigger the auto-drool. She's on the list. Oh yeah. (Yes, I'm aware of the irony in my neanderthalic words here.)

Our story has Theron as a single mother of two who has left her abusive boyfriend and headed home to northern Minnesota -- a hard land if there ever was one. I'm reminded of what my dad was once told about Dodge City, Kansas: It's not the end of the world, but you can see it from here.

As you might guess, there aren't a whole lot of opportunities for a thirtysomething woman in the boonies. But wait ... the old coal mine is now hiring women! Great pay, decent benefits and the added bonus of nonstop ass-pinching. Hell, Charlize says, where do I sign up?

This is based on a true story, and it's not hard to believe given the, ahem, traditional nature of the menfolk, including Theron's dad. Actually, the womenfolk aren't much better, with even the female employees at the mine inclined to suck it up and turn the other cheek instead of pushing for decent treatment. Sadly, we get to watch Theron endure physical and emotional abuse from pretty much anyone with a penis over the course of a couple of hours. It's a hoot, let me tell you.

"North Country" offers a good supporting cast: Richard Jenkins (the dead dad in "Six Feet Under") and Sissy Spacek as Theron's mom and dad; Frances McDormand as her friend, a mine veteran; Sean Bean -- with American accent! -- as McDormand's husband; Woody Harrelson as Theron's would-be suitor and lawyer; and Jeremy Renner as the main harasser at the mine and Theron's former high school boyfriend. Also solid in smaller roles are "that guy" Xander Berkeley as the mine office manager and Michelle Monaghan as an even younger, prettier female employee who gets her fair share of abuse. All in all, good actors and decent performances.

Theron's good, too, although not as impressive as in "Monster," which I still don't believe actually featured her, but rather some bizarro skank who crawled out from under an overpass. Even so, she hits the right notes of suffering and defiance in "North Country," which also captures the sense of desolation and bleakness that must prevail in this region.

Good acting, good scenery, gut-wrenching story ... so this is a slam dunk, right? Eh, not quite. A few of the transformations in the men from uncaring or unwilling to understanding didn't ring true. At the same time, a couple of the villains were more two-dimensional than I have to think they were in the real-life case. So yeah, the men ... not the best roles.

The women certainly fare better, from McDormand's seen-it-all attitude to Spacek's dutiful wife. And Theron probably deserved the Oscar nomination she got here, if only for tackling that Minnesota accent. Had she just thrown in a "you betcha!'" here and there, she could have taken home her second statue.