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Tim Carvell and David Shayne

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Good Careers Gone Bad

By Tim Carvell
Posted Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2000, at 6:47 PM ET

I stand corrected, and hope that Ms. Bullock can find it in her heart to forgive me. Or acknowledge me, for that matter.

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Still, I think the larger point holds: Something bad has happened to her career. It's like it had some tainted soup or something. Did you see Practical Magic? And have you seen the trailers for her next movie, with Liam Neeson and Oliver Platt? It's rare to see three such likeable actors in such a shoddy-looking film. (Disclaimer: I haven't seen the movie. I've only seen the trailer. The movie could be a work of staggering genius. But somehow, I doubt it. How often is the movie better than the trailer?)

Along similar lines, what's happened to Liam Neeson? Since The Phantom Menace, he's looked increasingly grim--he seemed to spend most of the running time of The Haunting trying to visualize himself in another, better movie. And now, there's this Sandra Bullock movie.

And now that I come to think of it, Oliver Platt, a favorite actor of mine, has gone from a terrific performance in Bulworth to Lake Placid, Three to Tango, and now, this Sandra Bullock-Liam Neeson movie. I smell a conspiracy here.

In other news, any thoughts on who might win big at the Golden Globe awards? Apart from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which gets to pretend it's a serious organization, if only for a night? There's a part of me that's sort of amazed and outraged that a small handful of mostly unqualified individuals throws an awards ceremony--a ceremony in which the voters are notoriously susceptible to the influence of personal meetings with stars, lavish luncheons, and other perks--and everyone pretends that the whole thing is legit. But there's another, larger part of me that's convinced that such a ceremony is really the only appropriate way to honor achievement in the movie business. The folks at the Academy Awards like to look down on the Golden Globes as representing a triumph of publicist-mongering, backstage maneuvering, and star-worship over quality and substance. And I, for one, wouldn't have it any other way. Any awards ceremony in which a trophy can't be bought for Pia Zadora isn't being true to its industry.

Tim

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