this has definitely made my day.
IT'S ALL HERE
The guys at EMPIRE have definitely made a good foot, in first of all
PUTTING TOM HARDY FIRST, & THEN,
CHRIS EVANS?
Is it just me, or is there something of a trend at the moment for insanely handsome character actors? I keep coming out of films and saying "[insert name of Hottie McHot-hot] was the best thing in it" - and then finding that all my straight, male colleagues agree with me. Tom Hardy, Chris Evans, Ryan Reynolds, James Marsden: there's a whole bunch of young, fit actors who keep stealing films out from under their more established co-stars with naught but a sharp wit and a pair of perfect cheekbones.
Let's consider the evidence. Since leaving the X-Men franchise and finding (what I suspect is) his natural home in comedy, James Marsden has completely stolen the show in Enchanted, smiled and absconded with scene after scene in Hairspray and then emerged unscathed from the dignity-sapper that was 27 Dresses.
Chris Evans not only made the Fantastic Four films amusing; he's also done work far above his paygrade in Sunshine, The Losers and, by the looks of it, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. And all this from a man who once wore a whipped cream bikini in Not Another Teen Movie.
Ryan Reynolds is perhaps the longest-standing proponent of the practice. He's done great things with bad material in Blade: Trinity, Van Wilder and The Proposal, and managed, in about two minutes of screentime in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, to be the best thing in it. However bad the film, Reynolds is never less than watchable.
And then there's Tom Hardy, the only good thing to come out of the Enterprise-crash that was Star Trek: Nemesis and the best thing in the lacklustre Scenes of a Sexual Nature (although an honourable mention there to Mark Strong too). He blew everyone away with his leading turn in the little-seen but much-praised Bronson and now, in Inception, he comes very close to stealing the film from under Leonardo DiCaprio's furrowed brow and past Joseph Gordon-Levitt's pin-sharp suits.
All these guys have signed up for the big bally-hooed action movies early in their careers that were supposed to make them stars (the aforementioned X-Men, Cellular, Blade: Trinity and Nemesis), and all have seen their early efforts flounder, before rebounding in smaller and more interesting roles. And at this point, it feels like in every film they do they're the best thing in it, so maybe that's a career path with a future. After all, Reynolds and Evans have now gone back to big action with plum leading roles in comic-book movies people might actually go see, while Hardy's going to be very buzzed about after Inception, so it does seem to be paying off.
I've been trying to think of female equivalents, but having real trouble. Someone like Amanda Seyfried did great scene-stealing in Mean Girls, but wasn't exactly leaping off the screen in Mamma Mia! She's had leads since but doesn't land quite the same eye-popping parts. I'd be interested to hear if anyone else can come up with any young actresses who keep getting small but perfectly formed roles and stealing entire films, but I suspect there's a dearth of appropriate roles there.
So is this a long-accepted trend that I've just started noticing? And what other actors are consistently the best thing in it?
Yesplease.
