This one hurts. Cuba is from the Bronx, same as me. He broke through with one of my all-time favorite films in Boyz N The Hood. And for a while, he was an actor with some promise. When he won the Oscar in ’97 for Jerry Maguire, nobody could have been happier than I was. He followed up with a nice little cameo-type role in As Good As It Gets which was fine. Small role, but quality movie. He was part of a real turkey when he made Instinct with Anthony Hopkins, but nothing major. Bad movie, it happens. For some reason he decided to do Chill Factor and didn’t see the flashing warning signs when Skeet Ulrich was his co-star. It was around here where there was cause for concern.
Cuba was having trouble appearing in good movies. The good news was Men of Honor came next and it featured one of the best performances he’d ever given. He was one of the few good things in Pearl Harbor. It looked like Cuba was getting himself on the right track again.
Then came Rat Race. I thought, “Huh? That’s a little different for him.” Over-the-top wackiness. Okay, just trying something different, eh, Cuba? No problem. I figured it was a stop-over, a chance for him to stretch his legs. Next came Snow Dogs, a movie I was forced to see not once, but twice in the theater (I used to be under contract with the Mouse House). I was getting seriously worried now. Cuba wasn’t even trying he seemed. He wasn’t honing his craft. He was just performing. And then, with a merciless gut punch … came Boat Trip.
The era of taking Cuba Gooding Jr. seriously as an actor was officially over. His more serious films during the above period (In The Shadows, Shadowboxer) never really achieved wide-release and Radio was nothing but a blip on the radar. This year’s Cuba entries? Norbit and Daddy Day Care. Woof.
It doesn’t mean his career is over and it doesn’t mean he can’t change it. It just means – at this point – it’s hard to care.
Halle Berry looked to be a promising star after she won the Oscar for Monster’s Ball a few years ago. She was a celebrated Bond girl, her performance in X-Men 2 erased the somewhat embarrassing one in the first film and she helped make Gothika into a solid hit. That sound you hear is the sound of tires screeching because as we all know, Catwoman came next and Jesus H. was that a bad movie. She should have seen it coming too. Nobody thought this was a good idea. If you’re not Batman, X-Men or Superman … if you’re a fringe comic book character … you better have a damn good script or no one is going to see your movie. The movie opened to lousy reviews and disappointing box-office and effectively killed Berry’s strong run. Maybe she’s do for a comeback, but you gotta figure people are questioning her taste.
Do you guys remember when it looked like Ben Affleck was going to be the bigger star between he and Matt Damon? All The Pretty Horses and Bagger Vance flopped, Ben had a couple of ranging hits and Pearl Harbor looked to vault him to the top. When Pearl Harbor disappointed, Affleck bounced back with a strong performance in Changing Lanes, a hilarious cameo with Matty in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, a solid hit in Sum of All Fears and a marginal hit with Daredevil (it actually made $102.5 million).
Then, there was the Bennifer era.
Poor Ben could not escape the deep-scarring, demon-like claws of Jennifer Lopez. His tabloid life lead way to exaggerated hate for – say it with me – Gigli. Everybody knows about Gigli, most people would agree it was horrible, but few have actually seen it. I have. It isn’t the worst movie in the world. It’s not at all good, but it actually has some very good scenes, some strong dialogue and fine acting moments from both J-Lo and Ben. It didn’t matter. The movie wasn’t good and we were all sharpening our knives for that first cut in the steak. Ben was being pegged everywhere as a bad actor. It was also clear, by the way, that Damon was the more serious actor with a sharper sense in picking smart projects.
You can actually go down the list of Affleck’s filmography after Gigli and mouth to yourself, “Bomb, dud, dud, bomb …” It’s that bad. The good news is Ben seems to be attaching himself to better films these days regardless of the size of his role or … his actual role. I’m betting his directorial debut of Gone, Baby, Gone is a winner and will do wonders for his cred.
Another poor bastard done in by a succubis. Guy Ritchie was considered “The -Next Big Thing” in the film world. His Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels was a cult favorite and Snatch just shot his cred up even more. I wouldn’t say his influence looked to be Tarantino-like, but it was close. Film geek and hipsters knew and loved Ritchie and couldn’t wait to see what he was going to do next.
Unfortunately, neither could Madonna. The pair fell in love and immediately we knew there was trouble when Ritchie agreed to remake a classic film in Swept Away with Madonna, not only his wife, but someone who never quite made a comfortable transition from the music world to the silver screen. Shock of all shocks, the film was a huge bomb and the next time Ritchie made a film (Revolver), it didn’t even make it’s way to the States.
Yes, I know John Travolta has appeared in a few hit movies since Battlefield Earth. I understand Wild Hogs made like a badillion dollars. I know Swordfish came out the following summer, but take a look at the Travolta post-Pulp Fiction, pre-Battlefield Earth and then look at Travolta after his Scientology, sci-fi epic and you see two different caliber of stars. The former was a mega-star who just turned out hit after hit. It wasn’t considered lame to be a Travolta fan, it was hip. The hipsters did not go see Wild Hogs, I can tell you that. He was clearly one of the biggest stars in Hollywood for a while, but Battlefield Earth was a laughing stock, one of the very worst movies on this list . People never forgot it.
