My (non-earth-shaking) dilemma: My daughter wants me to go see the new Mission Impossible movie with her. Going to movies together is one of our best “bonding” activities. (She’s 14; I’m ancient). She wants to see it mainly for Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, who we agree, is incredibly hot. I’m also interested to see Philip Seymour Hoffman. HOWEVER - I refuse to support that Scientologist cultist egotist Tom Cruise.
So, what to do?
Eh, if you want to see the movie, see the movie. Tom Cruise isn’t really doing the world much harm. The way I see it, he was a far bigger danger to the world in terms of advancing Scientology *before * it became apparent that he’s a freakin’ nutcase.
I think you should go and enjoy the bonding time with your daughter. That far outweighs the importance of boycotting a product because of one participant in its production. I’m all for sticking to one’s principle’s and not promoting or supporting that which one finds objectionable( for whatever reason), but in the end, TC won’t be affected in any way. You and your daughter, however will lose precious time together. I hope you do go and have a marvelous time 
Purchase tickets to a different movie, then slip in to see MI.
I would back this up if it didn’t involve his daughter.
Yikes! I didn’t even consider this to be dishonest. I figured that as long as the theatre is getting paid…But now that I think about it, I guess you’re right. It wouldn’t set the right example.
Go see the movie. You’re most likely supporting all sorts of causes you don’t like without even knowing it with places you do business with every day. What does it matter if Cruise’s movie has a good box office? The man is a good actor, despite the fact he’s a raving lunatic in real life.
Mission Impossible has a lengthy history, from the early days of the TV series with it’s memorable introduction (“Welcome, Mr. Phelps. Your mission, should you decide to accept it … if you or any of your team should be caught or captured …”) and complicated, split-seocnd plots.
Lalo Schifrin’s brilliant theme tune still resonates.
I thought the first film was excellent and the second a pile of steaming dung.
After all that, the fact that the lead actor has a weird religion is neither here nor there. Does the cinema sell foods which cause obesity? Will most patrons arrive by cars causing global warming? Are the tickets made from Amazonian rain forests?
Spend quality time with your daughter and hope that the film is worth seeing!
Considering all the stories concerning actors (and politicians) is old Tom really a standout?
Just another voice: Forget Tom, go see the movie with your daughter.
It won’t matter to Tom, but it will make a world of difference for the two of you.
I’m not a big Cruise fan either, but I’ll be seeing the movie because Simon Pegg (from Spaced and Shaun of the Dead) is in it.
I plan on seeing it, but I will be buying tickets to another movie I’d rather support more (thus making sure it gets supported twice since I’ll pay to see it the first time too), but if that’s a moral problem or setting a bad example problem, at least consider going to a matinee. If you can wait a couple/few weeks, your money will be going to the theater rather than the stupido, pardon me, studio, who paid Tom Cruise some outrageous fee for a mindless action film. That doesn’t necessarily have to do with Tom Cruise himself since I quite like him as an actor. I do that with other mindless action films/any films where the lead got paid more than $10million a picture. It’s a stand, however small or meaningless, against high salaries for “stars.”
I adore Reese Witherspoon, but no way am I going to financially support whatever film it is that she’s getting paid $29million to be in. Actors’ salaries, at that level, are definitely outrageous. I’d rather pay full price on opening day to support a small indie where the actors probably got scale or slightly above, or a bigger movie where the salaries are comprehensible to me.
I can’t remember the name of the movie, something with Julia Roberts and Mel Gibson. They each got paid $20million, while the director only got paid $5million. That’s $45million before a single other person was hired. For that money a dozen, much better, indie films could have been made. And yeah, whatever the movie was (“Conspiracy Theory” maybe) was crap.
Go see the movie, but tell your daughter all about $cientology, and the salary issue. Make her aware of where the money is going.