Does anyone else ever get this feeling? There are stars who must be pretty talented… and you have really tried to see where the appeal lies… and you are just left baffled.
This isn’t about slagging off a celeb you happen to dislike, or not accepting that taste varies, or having an axe to grind. It’s about a very genuine sense of deep bewilderment.
Example. More or less everyone I’ve ever met (slight simplification) admires Elvis Costello to some extent. Without question, he has achieved widespread critical AND commerical success during a lengthy career. He is widely respected as a singer, musician and songwriter, and the consensus seems to be that he’s an intelligent, gifted sort of guy. People whose judgement I trust admire his work, and he gets cited in a lot of popular culture. I have no axe to grind, good luck to him, and all credit to him for his achievements.
But for the life of me I just can’t get it. I’ve listened to lots of his material, and for me… there’s just nothing there. I’m not sniping at him, but I obviously have a blank spot where EC is concerned.
Blank spot? Not really, but this thread kind of reinforces a theory I’ve held. Most famous performers are comprised of too things “guts” and “talent”. The ones who are more “guts” than “talent”, are the ones I create a blank spot for.
My example would be Madonna. She’s a pretty good singer, she certainly has what it takes to spot a good song. She is a very good entertainer, i.e. she is entertaining. But I can’t help but think that she’s just gutsy enough to not take shit from anyone, and that’s why she’s famous.
For any of the qualities I named above, Madonna is no where near the top one percentile. But she’s gutsy as hell. Take for example her appearance recently on David Letterman. She told him she just learned to play guitar - kind of strange for a pop musician. Anyway she proceded to give her best Phoebe Buffay impersonation in guitar talent. But damnit if she didn’t do it in front of a million people. I’ve been playing for 15 years and I get nervous playing for 10 people.
Kim Basinger and Michelle Pfieffer. Two actresses who appear to have been cast in movies mostly because they are blonde. Nothing against them (they both appear to be fairly intelligent humans) but they’re crowding more talented people out of jobs. I will make an exception for Kim Basinger in her Simpsons appearance, and Pfieffer for Batman Returns (and that’s more for as Selina than as Catwoman).
Benico Del Toro. Really don’t get squirrel boy’s appeal.
The rest of these can be lumped as pretty much worthless, if not unqualified:
Chris Elliott
George W. Bush
Jewel Kirshner (I mean, c’mon!)
Everclear
Blink 182
The Goo Goo Dolls
Marshall Mathers
“The Donald” (There are gobs of rich people in the world. Why is he famous?)
Zsa Zsa Gabor (Aside from slapping cops, what does she do all day?)
Frank Sinatra (He TALKS when he sings. Why do people worship him)
Barbra Streisand (She’s talented, yes. But why do people worship HER?)
OK, I’m ready for the ridicule that will follow this post.
I don’t get the attraction to:
The Smashing Pumpkins
Pearl Jam
Creed
And why the hell is Fabio famous? At least those bands I mentioned DO SOMETHING. Obviously people like their music and have reason to like them (but not I), but what the hell does Fabio DO to make him famous? It’s not like the supermodels who you actually SEE modelling things. How did this guy get famous?
Howard Stern. They could’ve gone out into the street and collared some random passerby and he would’ve made a better radio host than that talentless idiot.
Gotta agree with Elvis Costello. Everyone says he’s a genius. Why? His music is bland, he’s no better a singer than the average male, and he’s not interesting in any other way. I can’t help but shake the feeling that deep down inside every music critic thinks the same way but is afraid to speak up. It’s like the Emperor’s New Music. A goofy version of this is Beck. He can’t sing, he’s sort of dumb, and his music is uninteresting and pointless, if different. Why do people think he’s a genius?
Christina Ricci - hugely hyped actress, and yet as near as I can tell, she’s ugly and isn’t any better an actress than any one of a dozen kids in any high school drama club in the lower 48. She has pretty much one thing she can do (Snarky Little Bitch) and when she tries to act any other way she just can’t pull it off. Why would anyone think she was a rising star? How does she even get cast?
Sandra Bernhard, a classic case of someone being famous for being famous. Utterly untalented. I can’t even remember how she got famous in the first place.
On a similar note, Lisa Kudrow. She doesn’t exactly qualify because I know WHY she’s popular; she’s on “Friends.” But why does she get so many movie roles? You see her everywhere. Yet, she’s arguably the worst major actress in Hollywood; her performance in “Analyze This” was far and away the worst acting performance of ANY person in a major film last year, right down there with the sort of thing Jean-Claude Van Damme might mail in. How the heck does she get cast in anything?
Hmmm…you obviously haven’t seen her strangely Oscar ignored performance in “The Opposite of Sex.” You might hate it because it has Christina Ricci in it, but Kudrow is pretty damn good. Also try “Clockwatchers,” where she plays a full of herself suppsed actress, doing temp work. The ditz/slightly off act (though I think she does it quite well) does bug a lot of people - the two movies I’ve mentioned are much different roles for her. Also, “Opposite” does have a great Lyle Lovett role. Who would thunk he could act (“Short Cuts,” “The Player”)?
Where to start, where to start? Whoopi Goldberg, Jim Carrey, Any of the non-original SNL cast members, in fact, just about anybody who’s “popular” in the last 15-20 years.
Reminds me of one of my favorite lines from “Singin’ in the Rain”: “She can’t sing, she can’t dance, and she can’t act. A triple threat.”
I can’t figure why some people don’t find Jim Carey at least talented. He is talented. Just look at “Mask” and "Ace Ventura Pet Detective and what about “Liar Liar” great performances and funny. Sure he is goofy but he is definetely funny.
Now Liza Manelli(sp) sux. I can not stand her in anything.
Monica Lewinsky…All she did was blow her boss.Why is she any different than thousands of other “interns” around the country? Does “infamy” qualify her being famous? Why do we still see her in the Newspapers? Do we still care what she is doing?
Now there’s a good one!
Wanna talk about lousy actors and actresses, what about all the after-births from “Survivor”??? Now, come on, I don’t know about you, but I saw a few of their “Performances” on T.V. and they sucked royally!(I think some corpses have better stage presence than that Richard guy did on “Becker”)! Not to mention Darva Konger!!! And lastly, Who the hell IS WALDO, let alone WHERE is he???
Steven Spielberg. I even hated “Saving Private Ryan” and I may be the first person ever to publicly state that, even if I am using my SDMB alias to do so.
Jerry Seinfeld. I’ve seen 5-10 episodes of his show and have never laughed.
Jay Leno. Another one who has never made me laugh.
Fatal Attraction. Big movie, rabbit stew jokes can still be heard from time to time. Didn’t interest me in the least, figured out most everything that was going to happen well before it did.
