I just watched the movie Closer for the first time and I think that Natalie Portman is a very over rated actress.
She looked very beautiful in the movie, and her body looked incredible. But her acting seemed quite obvious. Also, even though she plays a stripper and has a very stunning body, I felt that she had close to zero sex appeal for someone who was supposed to be a stripper.
Instead of her character seeming sex kitten and seductive, she just seemed to me more like whiny and low IQ. I guess she captured the tragicness of the character, but still it seemed to me obviously acting vs embodying the character (if that makes sense).