Friday Question(s): The Cast of Iron Man 2 or Get Him To The Greek?

This week I did an amazing thing. I saw two movies in the theater. It was glorious. I hadn't seen two movies in the theater within a seven day period since before my accident. Finally it feels like things are getting back to normal. So in celebration of this, and rather than just gloss over it in the intro paragraph of my next Off The Couch... feature, and because we once again have no Friday content for you, I thought I'd quick whip up a number of Friday Questions for ya to ruminate on based on the two films I watched this week. Doesn't matter if you've seen 'em or not, just quick free associate and tell me which of each pairing of actors from Iron Man 2 and Get Him To The Greek you like better, tally 'em up and see which movie cast you end up liking better. The two seemingly disparate movies ended up having more in common with each other than I anticipated! Oh also, one movie mostly sucked and the other was pretty all right. Guess!

Russell Brand vs. Robert Downey, Jr.: Both narcissists, but possibly Brand more so in real life than Downey. But maybe that's just him having a gas at us (is that a British phrase?). Downey has exploded a lot more than Brand and MTV might wish us to believe he has (only two movies in which he played the same character thus far), but I also think Downey is kind of overrated and obnoxious. That said, he is hands down the better actor, and even when he's annoying he's also magnetic and entertaining. Downey wins.

Jonah Hill vs. Don Cheadle: I don't really know why I liked Superbad so much, because at that point I didn't really care for either Cera or Hill. It was mostly the script I liked I supposed. Also, every Apatow movie Hill's been in he's been mostly just yelly and forgettable. Cheadle, on the other hand, is much more talented a thespian, but is equally as forgettable (though not as yelly). Both play the sidekick role marginally well, but Cheadle seems constrained in IM2, though I suppose that's also part of his character. So this is a close/apathetic one, but Cheadle wins by a hair, if only because Hill only had one LOL moment in GHTTG.

Diddy vs. Mickey Rourke: In the back of my head I was hoping Diddy would surprise me in GHTTG and turn out to be hilarious, but in truth, once again he only had one or two moments that made me LOL. That said, I also expected way more from Rourke in IM2: I thought he would ham it up to the nth degree and chew that blockbuster scenery like it was no one's business. But he mostly just stood there looking like he was scheming and we never really knew what until the end. This plus the Russian accent gags that fell flat makes me almost want to go with Diddy (if only for his "I am mindfucking you right now" speech) but ultimately if Rourke hadn't acted the way he did, the ending wouldn't have been as enjoyable. Rourke wins.

Aziz Ansari vs. Sam Rockwell: Mr. Rockwell is a man who I've gone back and forth between hating and adoring for years now. Talk about hamming it up, this guy showed even Downey who the master of the masturbatory monologue was. And I think if I hadn't seen Moon or Frost/Nixon, his IM2 performance would have made me hurl. But it made me see him as more of an ambitious actor than I used to give him credit for. What sucks is that I think he still tried too hard here, like Lady Amy I think implied as we left the theater last night. What sucks even more is that Aziz, who I've been in consistent adoration of for a long time now, was barely used in GHTTG, which is just lame. Seeing him at the Orpheum on the 19th will have to make up for that. So on principal, Aziz wins.

Elizabeth Moss vs. Gwyneth Paltrow: That's right, Peggy from Mad Men is Jonah Hill's girlfriend in GHTTG. How awesome/terrifying is that? And while she doesn't have any laughs really (other than a good line about Gossip Girl) in that movie, she's much more three-dimensional than Pepper Potts aka Apple's Mom in IM2. This is lame because I think they were trying to develop Pepper's character at the beginning of the movie, but then just gave up because they realized they had so many other characters to deal with. Paltrow did what she could and her Pepper portrayal is one of hers that doesn't make me wince, but ultimately Moss took a misogynist view of women from a subpar mostly lazy romance subplot and elevated it to show that her character deserved a voice, even when Hill didn't deserve her in the slightest. Moss wins.
Rose Byrne vs. ScarJo: In another twist, Ellen from Damages plays Russell Brand's ex-wife in GHTTG, which was awkward at first, but I soon forgot her previous constantly nervous/melodramatic self from the FX series and she disappeared into her half-mocked role as the still loving but also bitter ex that Brand wonders if he's an idiot for leaving. Once again, so much of the film is overexposed on Brand and Hill that she mostly fades into the background (she isn't even given enough time to make her new relationship with Lars Ulrich of Metallica funny). Likewise, I thought ScarJo's role in IM2 as a badass was going to be a much bigger part, but mostly she was her alter ego "from the legal department" self, which was boring. Luckily that was even enough to remind me she couldn't act. And then she had possibly the best action scene of the film toward the end with Favreau the limo driver helping her out. This one's close and ultimately decides whether it's a tie for me, so I've got to give it ScarJo if only because IM2 was just simply a better movie.

This entry was posted by chris, on Friday, June 11, 2010. You can leave your response.