Subtle Bluntness

Well, I saw The Goods this weekend.  Basically, it’s another starmaking vehicle for Jeremy Piven (who already had one in the underrated PCU) where he plays a guy who… well, let’s be honest here.  Jeremy Piven is basically playing Jeremy Piven here.  Or some version of Jeremy Piven, at least.  Here’s the review, for those interested.

I mean, I’m sure Jeremy Piven is just like this in real life, aren’t you?  It’s kind of like Seth Rogen in that what you see in the movies has to be dangerously close to what he is in real life.  That’s why Piven’s Ari Gold is so good on Entourage (and probably why Kevin Dillon is having a career run there, given that he’s the less successful brother in a pair of acting siblings).  He’s good because he doesn’t really have to act!  He is a fast-talking sleazy Jewish dude who drips sarcasm!  Johnny Drama is the brother to a more famous/successful actor sibling!

Why is this a bad thing?  Why can’t we just have a guy who does a couple of things well, and let him work that for the rest of his acting life?  Let whoever do their thing; cast them when you need a Piven type or a Rogen type, and don’t try something crazy like remaking Psycho with the oily guy from Swingers.  Enjoy the act!  You rarely get a guy like Charles Napier (who was born to play a hardassed authority figure) in life, so hang onto him and embrace him!

I have to admit I fall into this trap too, but mostly when you see a guy overstay his welcome (ahem, Will Ferrell).  In small doses, character actors are awesome.  You just have to learn when to not overstep when you only have one go-to character (AHEM, Will Ferrell).  You can do your thing for many years, just don’t burn through your good will with some ill-advised starring roles.

I saw Year One last weekend.  Not many other people did.  The crowd was sparse, as were the laughs. Here’s the review.

It’s hard to believe Jack Black has gone from High Fidelity and Tenacious D to doing dreck like this.  It’s even harder to believe that Harold Ramis was associated with the project (though he’s been terrible for most of his career too, even if it hurts me to speak ill of the man who gave us Caddyshack).

To call me disappointed is to remind the world that I avoided most of the trailers for the film.  That was my mistake.  Next time I won’t be so stupid.