I would consider myself a relatively self-deprecating person.
For example, I’m not afraid to admit that I basically look just like Jack
Osbourne, and I specifically mean 2002 Irritating Teenage Curly Round Thing
Jack Osbourne. I am willing to make fun
of myself. However, too much of that is not a good thing. Back when I was a wee
Irritating Teenage Curly Round Thing, one day I spent a few minutes throwing
out the self-deprecating gags, until somebody just held out their hand and said
“you’re just fishing for compliments. Stop.” And it was true. Too much of that
willing to laugh at yourself stuff is just another form of narcissism because
it shows that you’ll do basically anything to get people to like you.
Thankfully I’ve grown up a little and gotten past that desperate need for
attention. Incidentally, don’t forget to like this blog post, leave a comment
and share it with all of your friends.
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| Me, essentially |
The reason I bring this up is because I’ve been thinking
lately among those most desperate of attention seekers, Hollywood actors. It’s
been a tradition among Hollywood celebrities for a while now for them to play
exaggerated versions of themselves for comedy, because a) rich and famous people
and the things they think and do are the
favourite topic of conversation for rich and famous people and b) it
strengthens their “brand” or whatever, showing John Q. Public that just because
Tom Cruise is rich enough to have you entire family murdered by a specially
trained team of chinchillas, that doesn’t mean they that think they’re better
than you. So go see Mission Impossible V: Mission Impossiblest!
I’m not totally against this, it can lead to some good
comedy. For example, the celebrity cameos in Extras by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant were generally quite
funny, and I appreciate them introducing the world to Patrick Stewart, sexual
deviant. But if you go to that well for too long or too often then the whole
thing becomes an obnoxious movie star circle-jerk. Like the Oscars. Two recent
examples stick out to me, one that was out recently and another coming soon.
If you paid money to see Movie
43 in the cinema, then you have my sincere condolences. Universally hated
by critics, Movie 43 is a sketch-comedy/waste
of your time featuring an ensemble cast including but not limited to Kate
Winslet, Hugh Jackman, Seth McFarlane, Emma Stone, Leon from Curb Your Enthusiasm, former successful
person Halle Berry, teen sensation Richard Gere and classic thespian Snooki.
Each sketch is united by the theme of gross-out humour which as we all know is
already the most sophisticated form of comedy there is, but which is also amplified
here by the fame and prestige of the participants. Jokes about murder, racial
stereotypes, coprophilia, incest, menstruation and penises being mangled by
fans inside an MP3 player/sex doll are all included in this mess. If you’ve
ever wanted to see Hugh Jackman play a man with testicles on his neck, then
this is the movie for you. And also you are going to die alone. The busy
schedules of everyone involved meant that the movie took several years to make,
and unfortunately in that time nobody thought that maybe they were just better
off just off just not bringing this film out, in spite of it being the
equivalent quality-wise to the sludge down your bathroom sink.
The second movie I wanted to talk about is the upcoming This Is The End, a disaster comedy film.
It stars Seth Rogen as himself, James Franco as himself, Danny McBride as
himself, Jonah Hill as himself etc, etc and is about this band of Hollywood
dudebros dealing with the apocalypse as you can see from this trailer.
It looks
like the Bill Murray joke from Zombieland stretched out to feature-film length,
long past the point of tolerability. They can make fun of how bad Green Hornet
was all they want but it doesn’t make me like Seth Rogen any more, it just
reminds me of how terrible Green Hornet
was. Like many of the movies starring these particular actors, the film appears
to mostly just be an excuse for these buddies to hang out and have a good time
making jokes about weed and their genitals. It is apparently no longer enough
of an ego boost for Seth Rogen that people enjoy the characters that he plays,
they now have to like him specifically as a person. While I can’t imagine the
likes of Franco and McBride caring very much about the public perception of
them, there’s still some crazy Hollywood megalomania on display here as this
witless fraternity basically decide to basically pay each other millions of
dollars doing and saying the same things they do when they go and have a few
beers. I mean, on the one hand maybe I shouldn’t judge a film that hasn’t come
out yet and it’ll be alright, but on the other hand IT WON’T AND I’M RIGHT.
To all the famous Hollywood stars who I have no doubt read
this blog all the time, please put a stop to this trend of self-indulgence
disguised as self-mockery. People don’t want to see you get Punk’d anymore. Sending
yourselves up is only achieving the opposite of what you intend by doing it, it’s
making me hate your guts and I know that you take my opinion very seriously.
