The trouble with comedy actors is they go around being acclaimed the whole time. "Oh, Monique, thank you for revealing your inner depth", the critics say, zipping up their flies. Those funny people, with their talent and their popularity poking you right in the face...they can run the whole gamut of human emotion, and while you're crying your way out of the cinema, they're laughing all the way to the bank. Damn them! A curse on their Globes! There are few comedy actors who haven't wondered or been persuaded to find out if they could be the next Meryl Streep or Daniel Day-Lewis. And among those comics who have made the leap, the hit rate is high, and thankfully so. But the changeover doesn't always work, and when it fails, it fails big time. Allow me to illustrate, in a barely particular order:
10. Will Smith - Seven Pounds
Mr. Smith has pulled the wool over your eyes, I suspect, because I can hear your responses already: "Comedy actor? I think you'll find that Will Smith is actually one of the best Rapping Talents in the world at the moment, so think again, my friend!" And I am not seeking to dispute the excellence of such fine recordings as Wild Wild West and Black Suits Comin'; rather, I wish to remind you that Will Smith started his illustrious career as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and from there has enjoyed considerable box office success as a big-time comedy star. But then he got serious, in I Am Legend and Ali and other such. And Will Smith has never been more serious than in his drippy, limp-wristed performance as Tim Thomas in Gabriele Muccino's Seven Pounds. This film has special significance for me because it was the first film I went to see in the cinema based purely on who had directed it; I loved Muccino's previous effort with Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness, and was very much enthused about their next, mysterious project. And what did I get for my trouble? It felt like having my hair brushed by a combine harvester. The film - SPOILERS ALERT - follows Tim Thomas as he finds worthy people who need kidney replacements or whatever, before committing suicide by jellyfish and bequeathing his organs to the deserving, thus atoning for working with Michael Bay or something. Smith's mumbling performance was so desperately screaming for an Oscar, I wanted to give him one just so he'd get off the screen. Yo, Homes! Smell ya later!