Anne Hathaway is supposedly really good in Rachel Getting Married. The buzz around Hollywood is she's a shoe-in for an Academy Award nomination. Some observers, like the LA Times' Tom O'Neil and Scott Feinberg, say it's her award to lose.
If history serves correct, she probably will ... lose that is.
Flashback to 2006. That year, everybody was talking about the musical Dreamgirls and the two serious actors it bore. One was a fresh face to Hollywood, the other an old hand reborn. We're talking Jennifer Hudson and Eddie Murphy, of course.
Critics expected both to walk away with Academy Awards for their work. For Murphy, it would mean some legitimacy as an actor's actor after years of playing, well, the buffoon. It didn't hurt that Dreamgirls was a critical and box office success -- it raked in $103 million and scored 77 percent positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. Hudson and Murphy landed Critics Choice, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards for their work. Both landed Academy Award nominations.
If history serves correct, she probably will ... lose that is.
Flashback to 2006. That year, everybody was talking about the musical Dreamgirls and the two serious actors it bore. One was a fresh face to Hollywood, the other an old hand reborn. We're talking Jennifer Hudson and Eddie Murphy, of course.
Critics expected both to walk away with Academy Awards for their work. For Murphy, it would mean some legitimacy as an actor's actor after years of playing, well, the buffoon. It didn't hurt that Dreamgirls was a critical and box office success -- it raked in $103 million and scored 77 percent positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. Hudson and Murphy landed Critics Choice, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards for their work. Both landed Academy Award nominations.
On awards night, as expected, Hudson won the Oscar for supporting actress. The supporting actor award, however, went to Allen Arkin for Little Miss Sunshine.
What happened? One word: Norbit.
The Murphy-produced Norbit was released while Academy voters still had ballots in hand. The commercials were everywhere, and everyone with half a brain who saw that mush agreed it was one of the worst of 2007. It's Tomatomeeter score among top critics is an abysmal 4 percent.
What happened? One word: Norbit.
The Murphy-produced Norbit was released while Academy voters still had ballots in hand. The commercials were everywhere, and everyone with half a brain who saw that mush agreed it was one of the worst of 2007. It's Tomatomeeter score among top critics is an abysmal 4 percent.
The parallel: Hathaway's best-reviewed film thus far is Rachel Getting Married. Her worst: Bride Wars. The latter film, which co-stars an increasingly disappointing Kate Hudson in yet another silly comedy, got an abysmal 0 percent among top critics (no, this is not a typo, zero percent among top critics).
Should it matter?
This is what Newsday says about Bride Wars: "Hathaway and Hudson, both natural charmers, are reduced to female stereotypes in this outdated comedy."
Reviews like that don't win you an Oscar.
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1 comment:
Gary - are you putting the bad mouth on poor Anne Hathaway? Nothing was as bad as Norbit - except maybe DAVE
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