Five Actors in Need of a Career Makeover

This is an article that has come about because I have finally thrown my hands up in the air and screamed, "I give up." Why do actors repeatedly waste their God given talents on roles they have played over and over again in films that are not worthy of the talent they bring to it?

This crossed my mind over the weekend when I saw "Couples Retreat" and watched Vince Vaughn, for the umpteenth time it seems, play a wise ass but basically good guy who finds himself over his head in a situation that ends up being believable only in the world of celluloid. Situations and characters like the ones Vaughn plays and plays off of don't exist in the real world. And that's a shame because Vaughn deserves better projects then this. Yet he is to blame because he often writes and produces the projects himself.

Maybe actors like Vaughn have just become lazy. They accept their big paychecks and play the same role repeatedly and don't care about the final product. As long as today's teenagers plunk down the money and the films (that long ago became critic-proof) rake in millions, the actors will do more of the same.

Burt Reynolds was a perfect example of this phenomenon back in the early to mid 80's. He began working with friends and resting on his laurels. He turned down Jack Nicholson's Academy Award winning role in Terms of Endearment so he could collect a $3 million paycheck for barely staying awake in probably his worst movie, Stroker Ace. Reynolds has struggled ever since and that is 25 years later friends. He had a brief respite from film dogs by delivering the performance of his career in Boogie Nights. Now, twelve years later, can you name a single film he has been in since? I can name a few but not many.

Don't these actors have agents that care enough to drive them to not only be successful financially but also artistically? Don't these actors want to mix up the types of roles they play and surprise their hardcore fans? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

This article is my choice for the five actors (no actresses because, truthfully, while I could pick on Reese Witherspoon and Sandra Bullock among others, lead roles for females are too limited in the first place) who need a new agent. Someone who will lead them back down the correct path of doing something silly here and there but also doing something worthwhile, something perhaps Oscar worthy. Of the men I have picked, two of them are previous Oscar nominees while the other three are certainly capable of nominations. It wouldn't surprise me if one day all of these men are nominated and maybe all of them will even take home the prize. I truly believe they are all that talented but all of them are being wasted.

Here are my five choices (I'm sure you all you one or two of your own as well) in alphabetical order.

BRENDAN FRASER - Possibly the most talented of the five actors and certainly the one who has wasted his talents the most. Fraser started his career mixing serious roles with comedies but has since spent the better part of the last decade going back and forth between kid's movies and brainless action movies. What happened? Maybe Fraser just hasn't been accepted as a serious enough actor in Hollywood. His first role was the title role in the unfortunate Encino Man but Fraser was wise enough to then appear in School Ties, Twenty Bucks and With Honors and although none of those films did well at the box office, Hollywood seemed to stand up and take notice.

Unfortunately Fraser couldn't seem to buy a box office hit as he appeared and quickly disappeared in Airheads, In The Army Now, The Scout, Glory Daze, Mrs. Winterbourne and Twilight of the Golds. Then in 1997 he appeared in the title role of George of the Jungle which was hit first hit. He also got married that same year and his decision making seemed to be geared towards family and kids for the most part.

His best role to date was the independently made Gods and Monsters, chronicling the life of openly gay director James (Frankenstein) Whale (played marvelously by Oscar nominee Ian McKellan. Fraser played Whale's assistant who learned to live with and love the man but not in a homosexual manner. Fraser was so good he appeared to make it look seamless but it was his co-stars, McKellan and Lynn Redgrave, who were nominated for Oscars along with the film's writer Bill Condon (who won the Oscar and also directed the film).

Since then, and this is 11 years later, Fraser has appeared with few exceptions in nothing but mindless action films and films geared for children. It started with his biggest hit, The Mummy and then continued with Dudley Do-Right. In 2000 he worked with director Harold Ramis and gave a great performance in Bedazzled but few people saw it. Monkeybone was another flop and then came The Mummy Returns, which proved to be another big hit.

Fraser once again took a risk with an art film, The Quiet American, but all the praise went to co-star Michael Caine who would win an Oscar nomination. Other than a small but effective role in the Academy Award winning Crash, Fraser has been wasting his talents in such forgettable titles as Looney Tunes: Back in Action, The Air I Breathe, Journey to the End of the Night, Inkheart and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. This year he appeared in a small role in yet another mindless action film, G.I. Joe.

Let's hope Fraser returns to roles he can bite his acting chops into before he forever becomes typecast in roles that disappear in favor of explosions and special effects. He deserves better.

MATTHEW McCONAUGHEY - Of all the actors listed here, McConaughey may be the one that has disappointed the most simply because he had the most hype given to him. He also seems to be the one that is willing to take the most chances but at this point he needs to take more and live up to the pre-fame hype the fans had to consume for months before he finally hit the big screen, not to mention the odd stories that have followed him since including nude bongo playing and refusing to wear deodorant among other things.

After making a fine debut as the high school dropout who loves that high school girls stay the same age while he grows older in Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused, McConaughey took small roles in such films as Angels in the Outfield, The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Submission, Judgement, Boys on the Side and Glory Days.

In 1996 McConaughey hit the big time thanks to his public relations people and press agents. Before any of his upcoming movies were released McConaughey appeared on just about every magazine cover in the country with articles comparing him to James Dean, Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift all rolled up into one. His first big starring role then came in A Time To Kill, a rather lackluster adaptation of John Grisham's novel. The film was a hit but critics took the film apart though many praised the young lead. He followed that with a key supporting role in the acclaimed John Sayles film Lone Star and followed that with a role in the unfortunate Bill Murray elephant comedy Larger Than Life.

In 1997 it appeared McConaughey was well on his way to stardom as he appeared in two important films that year, Contact with Jodie Foster and Steven Spielberg's Amistad. Then McConaughey made what seemed to be an exciting decision at that point in his career when he started taking more challenging roles in smaller films along with appearing in bigger budget films. He started with the lead of bank robbing brothers in The Newton Boys followed by Ron Howard's EdTV which was quite similar in nature to The Truman Show from a year earlier. After that he appeared in the submarine thriller U-571. All three films flopped at the box office.

Perhaps feeling the need to have a quick hit McConaughey co-starred with Jennifer Lopez in The Wedding Planner and that seems to be the moment his career took a turn for the worse. It seems that McConaughey jumped into one of these poorly conceived romantic comedies to jump start his box office drought and it has worked thus far.

In 2001 he appeared in two terrific smaller films, 13 Conversations About One Thing and the criminally overlooked thriller Frailty. In 2002 he tried to become an action star in the unfortunate Reign of Fire and had yet another box office flop. In 2003 he teamed with the then hot Kate Hudson for How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and found another hit. His next attempt at being an action star, Sahara, was a resounding flop while the gambling drama Two For The Money with Al Pacino was too heavy handed and downbeat to attract a large audience.

Then came Failure To Launch and McConaughey had another smash hit despite a major drubbing from the critics. McConaughey gave his best performance to date in We Are Marshall but the Christmas release was deemed too downbeat for audiences. Despite a nice supporting role in Ben Stiller's hit comedy Tropic Thunder, McConaughey has gone back to the brainless comedy for three films in a row now with Fool's Gold, a minor hit, Surfer Dude, a movie so bad it was never given wide release and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past in which McConaughey took further drubbing from the critics but still managed a nice profit.

What's next? Nothing for sure but someone needs to start casting this gifted actor in something more than romantic comedies as the witless lead. How about a gritty police drama or a first rate thriller? Until then we'll have to settle for one of our better actors playing characters dumber than himself and far less intelligent than his fans.

EDDIE MURPHY - Here is a career that isn't so perplexing. A movie star by the age of 21 who got a little too big for his britches and decided he could do anything. Then he married and had several children and decided to dedicate a good portion of his career to making films for his kids. Now Murphy is divorced and his kids are getting older and it's time to get back to being the brilliant comedian we discovered together over 25 years ago.

The 1980's started well for Murphy on the big screen. In 1982 he made his big screen debut alongside Nick Nolte in the action-thriller 48 HRS and a star was born. The film was a huge success and he followed that up with another smash hit in Trading Places, a comedy co-starring Dan Aykroyd. He then took a very small part in a very bad comedy called Best Defense with Dudley Moore but later that year (1984) he had his biggest hit to date as Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop. It seemed Murphy could do no wrong but yet he did. He became a producer of his films thus Murphy was accountable for his choices and the final results.

In 1986 came The Golden Child which was Murphy's first starring flop. The next year he made Beverly Hills Cop II which was a big hit but a critical flop. In 1988 he made his last well received film for the next several years with Coming To America and then a string of flops followed.

The first, and most notorious of the films, was Harlem Nights in which Murphy not only starred in and produced but also wrote and directed. The gangster era comedy that co-starred Murphy's heroes Richard Pryor and Redd Foxx (along with Arsenio Hall and Della Reese) was besieged with production problems and overruns and by the time the film was released the word was that it was a turkey. It was. Murphy followed that with the ill-conceived sequel Another 48 HRS and had another bomb on his hands. His next film was a mild hit, Boomerang, in which Murphy showed a more mature side. The Distinguished Getleman, Beverly Hills Cop III and Vampire in Brooklyn were all desperate attempts to get Murphy another hit and all flopped.

In 1996 Murphy remade Jerry Lewis' classic The Nutty Professor and had his first big hit in over eight years. Metro and Holy Man were box office flops and then Murphy aimed at kids again with another remake, Doctor Dolittle and had another big hit. In 1999 Murphy had two mild hits that both should have been much bigger. Life was a prison comedy co-starring Martin Lawrence and Bowfinger, written by and starring Steve Martin showcased Murphy in his best performance to date. Playing it safe Murphy had two more hits (though far less than expected) with sequels to Professor and Dolittle.

In 2001 he voiced the donkey in the smash hit Shrek and then spent two years making several films in succession, all of them bombing at the box office. With a blink of an eye the films Showtime, The Adventures of Pluto Nash, I Spy and The Haunted Mansion all came and went. Only Daddy Day Care another family comedy met with derision by critics made any money.

Murphy's career then seemed to turn around for the (much) better in 2004 starting with Shrek 2. He was then cast in his first true dramatic role in Dreamgirls and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2006. Now it seemed he could jump start his career and do what he wanted. Unfortunately that started with Norbit which was an unexpected sleeper hit but derided by critics so badly that some believe the release of this film may have caused Murphy the Academy Award. He has since followed that up with Meet Dave and Imagine That, two enormous flops whilst still seeing money from another Shrek sequel.

And that is where we are with Eddie Murphy. Word is Murphy is in talks to do Beverly Hills Cop 4 which would be a terrible mistake considering that today's youth probably is unaware of any Murphy project before 1990 plus Murphy has come to a point in his career where he needs to stretch his abilities. Apparently Dreamgirls writer/director Bill Condon tried to convince Murphy to play Richard Pryor in a biography of the comedian's life but Murphy passed. Why? Beverly Hills Cop 4? Hopefully Murphy will get back to the grit of the adult humor he became famous with over 25 years ago.

JOHN TRAVOLTA - Was there a bigger star on television and in movies in the late 70's and early 80's? By far Travolta has had the best career of the group and his problem isn't typing himself in one genre but simply picking bad scripts. Yes he has had many hits but Travolta is just emerging from the second major dry spell of his career, something most actors couldn't do but yet he perseveres and now it is time to see him in some new and exciting projects.

The 70's began with a villainous role in Brian DePalma's Carrie, which was a big hit. His first starring role a year later was the phenomenally successful Saturday Night Fever, for which he received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Travolta followed that up with another phenomenal box office hit, Grease, and suddenly Travolta was the biggest star in the world that seemingly could do no wrong. But he couldn't have been more wrong when he chose his next project, Moment By Moment, a love story between a beach bum (named Strip!) and an older woman (Lily Tomlin). The film was laughed off the screen by critics and only the most ardent Travolta devotees showed up opening weekend, but there would be no good word of mouth or repeat business from mostly dissatisfied customers. The film was one of the biggest flops of the Christmas season of 1978. Because of this Travolta seemingly became a little too cautious with his projects fearing another flop. He refused to take chances. He accepted the lead in American Gigolo and dropped out to make the "safer," PG rated summer romance drama Urban Cowboy. The film was a mild hit but well below expectations and would begin an almost nine year drought in Travolta's career.

Travolta's next film, Blow Out, a political conspiracy thriller that re-teamed him with Brian DePalma is widely regarded as one of his best films and perhaps his best performance but the film opened in late summer of 1981 and was lost in the shuffle and became one of the more surprising flops in movies. Travolta waited two years to make his next film and then made an astronomical error of making a sequel to his biggest hit called Stayin Alive. Actor Sylvester Stallone wrote and directed and the film was all flash with no style, substance or story. Not surprisingly fans of the original Fever were far less impressed this time around and while the film made just above breakeven it was considered a failure. Later that year Travolta re-teamed with his Grease co-star for Two of a Kind, an abysmal comedy about God's desire to destroy mankind. The film was another huge Christmas season flop for Travolta.

In 1985 Travolta made Perfect, a supposed serious look into the world of journalism and health clubs that relied much too heavily on scantily clad, buxom women, a love story and more sub-plots then a dozen movies have. The film had a curiosity factor that prevented the film from being an all out flop but critics and audiences alike were easily dismissive towards the film and, for the first time, Travolta seemingly began not being taken seriously by his fan base which then began to shrink.

Perhaps realizing this Travolta waited four years before his next project, The Experts. The film was so bad it barely received theatrical release and it wasn't a widespread but regional release that never reached all the major regions. His next film would finally break his slump of flops but only briefly. Travolta co-starred with Kirstie Allie and Bruce Willis as a talking baby in Look Who's Talking, a surprise hit but one Travolta badly needed for his next three films, Chains of Gold, Eyes of an Angel and Shout all had limited theatrical release. After four years Travolta had another hit with the sequel, Look Who's Talking Too but he needed a major career boost and along came a man named Quentin Tarantino.

In 1994 Travolta reluctantly signed on to Pulp Fiction and the rest was history. The film became a phenomenal hit and entered the pop culture world where it remains today. Travolta also earned his second Academy Award nomination for Best Actor and all of a sudden Travolta was back on top with a pile of scripts to pick and choose from. His next project, made before Pulp Fiction was released, was White Man's Burden, an interesting drama that proposes what society would be like if white people were the minority. The film's idea was better then its payoff and the film died at the box office. But then Travolta went on a hot streak rarely seen in Hollywood. Over the next year Travolta starred in four huge box office hits playing four distinctly different characters that showed his true range as an actor.

Get Shorty took Travolta back to the seedy side of life but showed his charm and charisma as never before. In Broken Arrow Travolta took a major career risk by playing a truly repellent villain where audiences rooted for his death. Phenomenon was a sweet and gentle romantic drama about a man who sees a bright light and suddenly becomes brilliant. Michael was an odd but successful comedy with Travolta as an angel on Earth. The flow of hits was interrupted only so Travolta could co-star with Sean Penn in an independent drama called She's So Lovely, the last completed script by John Cassavettes and directed by John's son, Nick. Travolta then scored another hit playing both good and bad opposite Nicolas Cage in Face Off. From then on Travolta has played hit and miss but mostly miss.

Mad City, a social drama co-starring Dustin Hoffman flopped. Primary Colors was also a flop despite strong reviews and Travolta giving one of his best performances ever. He then had a cameo in Terence Malick's The Thin Red Line and followed that with another strong drama, A Civil Action that faired weakly at the box office as well. The General's Daughter proved to be another underachiever and then came Battlefield: Earth. Released in 2000 it was widely predicted to be one of the worst films for the entire decade, a prediction that should prove to be true. The film was laughed out of theaters and suddenly there was some rumbling that Travolta's career boost was complete and headed in the wrong direction. The comedy Lucky Numbers with Lisa Kudrow did nothing to stop that argument and he followed that with the action film Swordfish, whose notoriety came from Halle Berry's first nude scene and Domestic Disturbance, another of his worst films. Basic re-teamed him with Pulp co-star Samuel L. Jackson but the results were far less. The Punisher was an ill conceived villain role in a bad cartoon adaptation. A Love Song for Bobby Long was a well received independent film seen by few people. Ladder 49 was a mildly successful look at the life of firemen. Be Cool was a sequel to Get Shorty that fell far short of the original. Lonely Hearts was a 1940's period murder mystery that went straight to DVD.

In 2007 Travolta bounced back with two box office hits. The first was Wild Hogs, an unexpected box office hit about four middle aged motorcycle men that was lifted by an audience filled with motorcycle and non-motorcycle buffs. Later that year Travolta played a woman in the musical hit Hairspray and had two hits in one year. In 2008 he voiced the lead role in Bolt, another hit but in 2009 he played the bad guy in the remake of The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3 and the film was only a mild hit.

Travolta's upcoming films look to be a mixed bag. Old Dogs will almost assuredly be a hit with Robin Williams as his co-star and his Wild Hogs director at the helm plus an amusing trailer. After that he looks to be playing another villain in From Paris With Love and then there is the long rumored sequel to Wild Hogs which may or may not happen. Hopefully Travolta will tackle more challenging roles as he gets older but the public reaction will decide if he does so or continues with needless sequels.

VINCE VAUGHN - Lastly we come to the aforementioned Vince Vaughn whose career seems to be in two parts, the mostly serious early work and the mostly comedic later work. While he may be sporting more hits in the latter half his career has come to a standstill as he continually plays the same character: the good guy who makes mistakes and has clever one liners during mostly unbelievable situations that all turn out happy at the end. Based on Vaughn's early work one would have easily believed he would have been a multiple Oscar nominee by now and perhaps even a winner. He took chances in different types of movies. Now he is in a creative rut that was imposed several years back but remains today because audiences scamper to his movies one after the other making them all hits.

His career started in the early 90's with a small role in Rudy but it was 1996 when Vaughn garnered serious attention in the comedy Swingers. The film was a cult hit and Vaughn was then cast in Steven Spielberg's The Lost World: Jurassic Park. He followed this with a string of films where he was serious and not so nice including The Locusts, A Cool Dry Place, Return to Paradise and Clay Pigeons.

In late 1998 Vaughn took the biggest risk of his career by recreating the role of Norman Bates in Gus Van Sant's ill-conceived and illogical shot for shot remake of Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece Psycho. But it was a gutsy and most admirable move on Vaughn's part to jump into the deep end like that. Vaughn continued taking risks, though, in such films as The Cell, Made (a comedic sidekick to Swingers) and Domestic Disturbance alongside fellow article actor John Travolta. Unfortunately all of these films were box office flops and that could be a telling sign.

In 2003 Old School changed everything. Vaughn co-starred with Luke Wilson and the film became an unexpected smash hit. Since then Vaughn has made only one truly dramatic appearance (a brief role in 2007's Into The Wild) and even his appearances in serious or action films, Vaughn has been the comic relief. So in order we have experienced Starsky and Hutch, Dodgeball, Anchorman, Be Cool, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Wedding Crashers, The Break-Up, Fred Claus, Four Christmases and currently he is on screen in Couples Retreat. Most of these films are by the book comedies, especially the last five listed. Wedding Crashers took a few risks while the other four are fairly lazy comedies.

Personally while I like Vaughn in these roles I want to see him branch out. I'd love to see him work with Edward Norton or Johnny Depp in something serious because I think he could go toe to toe with them. Until audiences realize this Vince Vaughn movie is the same as the previous three we will continue to get more like them.

In the end it is we the audience that can help nudge these actors in a different direction. It may not be successful but it certainly would be a welcome change. Until then I continue to hope even if I have to cringe while watching these true talents go to waste.