This statement alone shows the flaw in your reasoning. Alec Baldwin is one of the funniest actors working today. His comedic timing and delivery are nearly perfect. After all, there’s a reason he’s hosted Saturday Night Live more times than anyone except Steve Martin (14 times since 1990, by the way).
What bothers me the most about this is that there’s no mention of them being desperate for backing on this project.
It is a sick, sick world where a terrible idea like this can get financial support, and a film like Terry Gilliam’s “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote” can languish for years because nobody wants to put any money into it. I guess we get the film industry we deserve…
I guess. Sweet and Lowdown is one of Woody Allen’s best and funniest films, and Penn’s comedic portrayal (he even does slapstick) was good enough to get an Oscar nomination that year, one of the very few acting comedy Oscar nominations in film history (though he lost to Kevin Spacey in American Beauty). Admittedly I actually haven’t seen We’re No Angels since it was released, but I remember enjoying it quite a bit. I mean, geez, it’s a Neil Jordan film, written by David Mamet. It has a pedigree. Where’s your bar? I mean, if Paul Blart, Mall Cop is more your speed, I can understand where your bar is. Otherwise, huh?
Sweet and Lowdown is a terrific movie. It’s not lie on the floor laughing funny, but it has funny moments. And, it is moving. His love affair - both with the woman and Django- are interesting and fun to watch. Also, it has fantastic music.
We’re No Angels, on the other hand, is not a very good comedy. I realize it has a great pedigree - great director, great screenwriter, fantastic cast. They all came together to create a mediocre movie. The jokes fell flat and the story was never ending. The original was far superior.
I don’t see how Penn’s politics would affect his comedy. Alec Baldwin is a perfect example that hurts lieu’s point. He is funny in everything he does. 30 Rock is a highly acclaimed show. On the other side of the aisle Kelsey Gramner is a hard core Republican, yet you would be hard pressed to find many people who did not find Frasier funny.
If Hollywood ever did The Marx Brothers, they would probably cast
Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac*, Jamie Fox and Asthon Kutcher.
It would be blasphemous and I would have to get all stabby.
*I know he’s dead.
Well, it has been almost 20 years since I’ve seen it but maybe I was just in a good mood, a forgiving mood, because I remember laughing and liking it. It hasn’t become a comedy classic, and maybe it was a disappointment considering the people involved, but it worked for me at the time. It’d be interesting to see it again to see if it holds up. The main point is that Sean Penn has done comedy and this was an example. Reading the IMDB comments, his performance in it is pretty well regarded too.
And I wholeheartedly agree with what you said about Sweet and Lowdown, especially the music. It’d make a great double-feature, movie and music-wise (though a different genre), with O Brother, Where Art Thou?.
That’s a whole 'nother thread. Why is it that rightys, when they hate someone’s politics, they hate the whole person and their career, whereas it seems that if liberals don’t like someone’s politics (or religion), they can generally look past that to judge at least their career on its own. I’m like that anyway. I despised Charlton Heston’s politics, but thought he was a decent actor, perfect for the roles he was in (like Ben Hur, and Planet of the Apes). I hate that Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger are Republicans, but I love many many of their movies. I think Tom Cruise is a loonball wackjob cult dupe, but I think he’s a great actor and enjoy most of his movies (I just won’t pay full price for them). It’s always black and white, either/or with right-wingers. Silly.
Anyway, back to this movie, it could be a pile of mess, or it could have a great script and be one of those movies that takes everyone by surprise. I’m not a big fan of condemning something in advance, especially when that thing, whatever it is, is only in the rumored stage. Penn has good taste in scripts, so he must have seen something in it that caught his fancy.
Btw, IMDB has Johnny Depp as Moe, not Benicio Del Toro.
Who’s playing Shemp?
Heh heh heh, Moe’s their leader.