4. Wasting Talent On Bankable Brand Names
Hollywoods current love of franchise movies and sequels means that lots of talented actors end up wasting their talent on lacklustre films to try and fit what the studios want. Think of Christopher Eccleston in Thor: The Dark World, or Jennifer Lawrence being tied to the X-Men, or Miles Teller half-arsing those Divergent films, and youll see what I mean. The entirety of Zoolander 2 feels like this. Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson and Will Ferrell are all hilarious actors, but instead of expressing their skills in a movie full of great new gags and memorable scenes, theyre all wasting their talent on a rehash of a film they made 15 years ago. Why would they do that? Well, probably because thats what the studios want: big names attached to films with recognisable brand names in the title. it doesnt really seem to matter if the film is any good or not; studios will finance and release it, if they think there's franchise potential (see also: Josh Trank's Fantastic Four). Youve got to feel sorry for Penelope Cruz and Kristen Wiig, too: both of them are highly talented, charismatic actresses, but rather than utilising those skills in a good movie, they instead wasted their talent on this lazily scripted dross. It's a shame, really, because this cast could make a great ensemble under a different script.