Want to read an article by a complete moron. Here you go: its Wendell Wittler's Top 10 Overrated Stars. There are some valid points in this article, which means simply, not every sentence it includes is complete fucking nonsense. Yes, Affleck is over rated. Putting him at number 10 should demonstrate one of two things to you immediately off the bat. Either this dude has insight like you've never seen, or he hasn't seen Reindeer Games. Recognizing that Affleck is overrated is not difficult, he makes top fucking dollar and hasn't been in a good film besides the one that he somehow was involved in writing.
I won't go off on number 9, though I strongly disagree that Keanu is overrated. It first, gives no credit to Bill and Ted, which were a fucking hilarious set of flicks, executed perfectly. It also fails to mention Point Break and, like much of the mainstream critique of The Matrix, is utterly incapable of recognizing that Neo couldn't have fucking been Jude Law, that was what made the role unique. The Wachowskis aren't fucking idiots, they knew that when Neo responded to Morpheus' leap with a "whoa!" that it would invoke Ted Theodore Logan and they used it. Regardless.
The real idiocy involved with this list peaks at number 6 when he includes Lorne Michaels. I was first surprised that Michaels even qualified as a star, being a moderately well known producer, but even more shocked when Wittler decided to go after the comic talent of SNL. There are things you can "critique" about SNL, obviously everyone has their favorite cast, largely dependent on the generation where you first watched/most often watched, the show. My parents love for the original is pretty much equivalent to my feelings about the glory days of the early-mid 90s. But to say that it hasn't produced any talent. Stop me when I have listed enough funny people for you:
Norm McDonald, Tim Meadows, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtain, Jon Lovitz, Julia Louis Dreyfus, Andy Kaufman, Chris Farley, Kevin Nealon, Dennis Miller, Horatio Sanz, Jimmy Fallon, David Spade, Tina Fey, Phil Hartman, Al Franken, Steve Martin, Gilbert Goddfried, Dana Carvey, Molly Shannon, Chris Elliot, Janene Garofalo.
But lets say that you weren't just saying there were no funny people on that show and assuming you don't think that list includes some of the funnies motherfuckers of all time. Even if you don't pay alot of attention to comedy and don't know how funny these folks actually are, neither Wendell nor myself have yet mentioned some people with pretty significant accomplishments.
--Mike Myers--even Cat in the Hat made money, everything he touches is gold, Austin Powers is an enormous franchise
--Bill Murray--both an incredible comedic actor and, with roles in smart-touching comedramas like Rushmore, Royal Tannenbaums, and Lost in Translation, a near Oscar winner
--Adam Sandler--there aren't many people in Hollywood today who demand a bigger salary than Sandler, who is an enormous star and has made some of the funniest movies of all time, most notably Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison, not to mention an extraordinarly beautiful performance in P.T. Andrerson's Punch-Drunk Love
--Chris Rock--the man who gave birth to the next generation of stand up comedy, who inhereited the legacy of Richard Pryor and ran with it, by all standards one of the greatest stand-ups, period
--Will Ferrell--Elf wasn't a fluke, people love Will Ferrell and Anchorman was drop-dead funny
I don't know that Lorne hand-picked every one of these bastards, but I'm pretty sure its not a coincedence that they were all on his show. Not to mention that he seems to blame Lorne for the fact that Belushi and Gilda are dead, which even the most whackjob conspiracy theories have never confirmed in my mind. I think its pretty easy to make the claim that there are as many, if not more, comedy legends, in the list above than there are outside of it. Yes, it doesn't include Seinfeld or Pryor. But who are the other comedy legends you are referring to? If you look at the great sitcoms: Cheers (made by an ensemble cast and good writing, Ted Danson is not a comedy legend) Frasier (I didn't even really think its THAT funny, but I find it hard to imagine Kelsey Grammar, who always seemed to be just a really good straight man to Niles, Daphne, his dad, etc. going in this category) MASH (Alan Alda really hasn't done anything funny since) Simpsons (even I can't yet make a case for Dan Castelleneta) who makes this list. I don't think there are really more than 5-10 comedy legends per decade and even if you agree that SNL is only getting 2-3 of them, I can't imgaine this qualifies as overrated. If you made 20-30 of AFI's top 100 films you would be the greatest director of all time. With 20-30 percent of baseball legends you would be, well, the fucking Yankees and I haven't heard the argument that they are an overrated franchise with the most championships in the history of pro-sports.
Finally, Madonna is number 3?!? Are you kidding me! What do you want from people, you put music legends and comedic legacies in with Shatner and the Governator. Here is his series of non-sensical arguments: " She's credited as "the first female pop star with complete control over her image"; in other words, nobody exploited her, she did it herself." This is somehow a dis? She used her sexuality herself and made assloads of money, not being exploited by the industry, are we in fucking opposite land. "Madonna's practice of constantly redefining herself has kept her one step ahead of serious scrutiny." She's not the fucking president, I don't think we need access to her financial disclosure. Again, when did redefining yourself to avoid being demonized by a rampant entertainment media become a character flaw? "And "Vogue" was one of the worst attempted dance crazes of the 20th Century. " In what sense was it an "attempted" dance craze? Don't like it, chure, but where is Kylie Minogue or the dude/ettes responsible for the Electric Fucking Slide. "She was the first performer NOT to be harmed by the discovery of an old sex movie" again, damn her for failing to be destroyed by our desire to elevate and crush our icons. "and a pioneer in concert lip-synching " I'll give you this, but a) she was dancing, her concerts were a show, not karaoke b) it doesn't diminish her musical capacity overall and c) how does lip synching qualify you for the top 5 overated of all time, I think your underthinking this list. "A whole second generation of "pop tarts" following in her footsteps prove that it wasn't that hard to do in the first place." I hope you aren't implying that one someone is powerful enough to establish/create/whatever a musical style which so resonates with the public that it becomes archetypical for the society at large, they are overrated. Do Justin and Usher prove that Michael Jackson should have made the list? Are Led Zeppelin and the Beatles less impressive because of Nevermind? Madonna is a legend, end of fucking story.
I know that was a long rant directed against one random article. But it really pissed me off and needed to be said. Maybe I will do something more narrative or descriptive or less inflammatory later on. Pack rocked last night by the way.
Peace,
MB-K
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