Amph Can these Hollywood careers be saved? Sarah Jessica Parker

Eddie Murphy and Adam Sandler have gone way downhill. They now make samey unfunny comedies they have too much input in and rely on their name to get interest in it. It's a shame really becuse Murphy can be pretty funny when he tries.
Seems to be a common thing for comedy actors. Rowan Atkinson hasn't done anything good since Mr Bean despite his vast talents, and Jim Carrey is pretty hit-and-miss too. Even Robin Williams seems to struggle to get decent roles these days (although he can always tunr to quality voice work).

But those critics like his other work, like the OT and Indiana Jones. Those are good movies and they like them, so why don't they like Indy 4 and the PT?

The answer is simple, they aren't as good as his past work.

 

Comedians in general have a short shelf life unless they reinvent themselves, and few do.

Mike Myers

Career high point: "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me"

Career low point: "The Love Guru"

How to fix it: Control, control, control. It's the buzz word of the day, and in the case of Myers, it's a huge part of the problem. He's a meticulous performer, someone who closely manages every part of the movies he stars in. He's picked up a reputation as being a difficult man to work with, and that wouldn't matter at all if "The Love Guru" had been a hit. But once you tank something that hard, it becomes more problematic to demand complete control on the next thing. Myers needs to experiment with some new collaborators and see what happens, and he needs to be willing to work outside his own comfort zone when he does so. He should look at the career that Alec Guinness built or the way Peter Sellers worked in films he didn't control. Not everything will connect, but he needs some outside voices in the mix. And in the meantime, I hope Sacha Baron Cohen is taking notes on Myers and doing some pre-emptive work to avoid vanishing down the same rabbit hole.

- Drew McWeeney

The comparison to Peter Sellers is not a felicitous one, because Sellers was a complete whackjob who was generally loathed by the people who worked with him.

 

Sarah Jessica Parker

Career high points: "Failure to Launch", "Sex and the City: The Movie"

Career low point: "I Don't Know How She Does It"

How to fix it: Sarah Jessica Parker's post-"Sex and the City" career is curiously similar to the way it was in the years directly preceding the show's debut. After receiving some critical acclaim in the early '90s for her winning turns in films including "L.A. Story" and "Honeymoon in Vegas", flops like "Miami Rhapsody" and "If Lucy Fell" temporarily killed her chances of becoming the next rom-com queen. Though Parker is now 15 years older and far better known, her only non-"Sex and the City" starring vehicle to really hit it big since she donned the Manohlos was 2006's "Failure to Launch" opposite Matthew McConaughey. 2009's "Did You Hear About the Morgans?" with Hugh Grant was a disappointment, but what really put the nail in Parker's rom-com coffin was last year's "I Don't Know How She Does It" - a critical and commercial failure that suffered from an overwhelming "been-there-done-that" feel. If she's going to keep her big-screen career afloat, what she needs now is to find quirkier projects that will highlight the same spunky charm she became known for in the first place - in a more age-appropriate manner, obviously (think a 40-something Diane Keaton). As is, churning out a seemingly endless stream of formulaic crap clearly isn't getting her anywhere.

- Chris Eggertsen

The problem here is age. Meryl Streep has sustained a career past 45, but I can't think of another actress who has.

 

To greater or lesser extents: Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, Emma Thompson, Gong Li, Kathy Bates, Judi Dench, Michelle Yeoh, Annette Bening, Marisa Tomei, Diane Keaton, Sigourney Weaver, Sandra Bullock, Jodie Foster, Viola Davis, Julianne Moore. . .

But Parker has neither the chops nor the charisma of most of them, and she's too well associated with her TV role now, I think. I'd be very surprised to see her make a big comeback.

 

By sustaining a career, I mean opening a picture, frequently.

Who goes to see pictures starring most of those actresses? There are few pictures that are exceptions, but not that many.

Parker isn't much of an actress, either, and she is seriously horse-faced. But she's smart, and has gone into the perfume business, so good for her.

 

Absolutely, I think she'd be great going that route. I'm not sure if that's what she would like to do, but if she did, she would probably be great at it.

 

Never cared much for her, never saw the fuss. I'm sure there are plenty of TV roles available for her, but please no more movies.

Anniston at least is younger and has the looks to fall back on, even if she is also stuck in the void of producing endless boring drivel where she plays the same chracter.

 

Ugh please no. The only thing she has going for her now is the SATC movies.

 

Funny, but also true.

 

Her movies do ok. I wouldn't say her career is over. I'm pretty sure there is another Sex in the City movie in the can before she goes out to pasture.

See what I did there...I made a joke about her horse face.

 

I always admire someone who plays a bad hand well, rather than one who plays a good hand badly (Lindsay Lohan et al.)

Parker doesn't have a great talent, but she is distinctive looking (neigh!), has brains, seems pretty stable, and as nice as people generally are in show biz. Whereas Ms. Lohan had considerable talent, good looks, no brains, a child star emotional range, and the self-protectiveness and toughness of a stale creampuff. It's perfectly idle to spectulate how Lohan can rescue her career. She's simply incapable of it, probably because of a seriously dysfunctional family background. I don't think Parker is a star or ever was one. She's shrewd, though, and will be capable of reinventing herself, I think. Possibly in some other role than acting.

 

Parker also had the good sense not to attempt plastic surgery (think Jennifer Grey) that
altered her appearance to the point that she was no longer recognisable to what fan base
she does have.