Nancy swears she will eventually start blogging, so we’re continuing the “random topic” segment (Nancy, come up with something more clever-sounding!) with Nancy’s next choice of topics: What supporting characters have really carried bad films?
Here’s my take on this:
- “Harold and Kumar: Escape from Guantanamo Bay” – Neil Patrick Harris Don’t get me wrong. The original “Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle” was a stoner flick classic. It had more heart that Cheech and Chong and more wit than half the comedies being made today… But let’s face it: the sequel wasn’t quite the same. Sure, there were great performances, but there was some lazy screenwriting going on and the plot didn’t fulfill the premise. Everyone’s favorite child-star-turned-actor-extraordinaire, NPH, really save the flick from being a big disappointment. His fame-renewing self-characterization scored yet again as we watch him conquer a Southern whorehouse whilst wielding a bag of coke in one hand and an NPH cattle-brander in the other. I half-considered turning his brand into a tattooed tramp stamp before I remembered that the “Dr. Horrible” is still in the running for permanent body art.
- “Catch and Release” – Kevin Smith This flick was hardly a catch or worth the release, except for the fact that Kevin Smith provided a surprisingly heartwrenching and down-to-earth performance. He went from goofy fat dude to suicidal best friend with ease one wouldn’t expect from the guy who usual limits his performances to two-word utterings. (“No Ticket.”)
- “A.I.” – Jude Law I wish the combination of all the performances Jude Law gave after this career-defining role were even half as good as this. Law’s manic robot persona carried the charm of an otherwise numbing film.
- “Melinda and Melinda” – Will Ferrel OK, I’m probably going to get a lot of crap for both my choice of a bad movie and a good actor. Now, I’m a card-carrying member of the “Woody Allen Still Makes Good Films!” team, but let’s face it… This movie hardly fulfilled its potential. Allen seemed to get too caught up in the shtick of comparing a comedy to a drama and the story suffered on both fronts. This movie also loses points for casting Steve Carrell Ferrel, however, gave a brilliantly portrayal of naivety that almost makes one giddy to watch.
- “Batman and Robin” – Arnold Schwarzenegger In the most hated movie of the Batman franchise there was one shining oasis in the form of a performance so awesomely bad you can’t help but laugh. Cali governor Arnold Schwarzenegger gave that performance. His horrendous one-liners coupled with his incomprehensibly thick accent made for one craptastic movie.
- “United 93″ – Khalid Abdalla First of all, I am from the Boston area and have been living in New York for three years. I am not insensitive to the gravity of 9/11. However, let’s just admit it, this movie sucked. Its use of non-actors was hardly on par with neo-realism and the handheld camera was a predictable and nauseating choice. However, Khalid Abdalla stood out as a phenomenal actor in this film. He made you feel some level of understanding – and perhaps even compassion – for a terrorist who launched the U.S. into one of its darkest periods since the Vietnam War. In fact, I think what I dislike the most about this movie is that the terrorist character is played so humanly that the audience finds itself connecting with him the most. And to that I have two words: “Too soon.”
I’ll leave off on that controversal choice and hopefully Nancy will respond with her own list!
(I swear Nancy is real!)
