Monday Morning Quarterback Part II

By BOP Staff

March 11, 2015

I think we get the (three) point.

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Ryan Kyle: Michael just gave a summation that I will have only repeated. Vaughn had a brilliant career start in a diverse number films spanning the genres. He found his most successful part was in comedy and cultivated a fan base through a series of strong films. He then seemed to get lost by taking the biggest paycheck instead of the best project and like many comedians who followed that path (i.e. Adam Sandler, Eddie Murphy), his audience stopped coming since they only got disappointments instead of laughs.

The trailer to this film really didn't seem all that appealing and given Vaughn's recent track record, audiences decided not to chance it. Vaughn's best career move would be to do a drama or play a supporting part in a strong comedy. True Detective is a great resurgence opportunity for him.




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Edwin Davies: A lack of variety is probably what has hurt Vaughn's career in the long run, even though it was precisely the thing that made him a star to begin with. He perfected his motormouth persona in Swingers, then deployed in to great effect in Old School, Dodgeball and Wedding Crashers. At a certain point, the audience outgrew him (unsurprising given that a lot of his early fans would have been teenagers or men in their early-20s) while he continued to play arrested adolescent characters, something which was funny when he was in his early 30s but which became kind of desperate once he hit 40. The same thing happened to Adam Sandler and Eddie Murphy, to an extent, but they both shifted into wackier, more high-concept stuff that prolonged their lifespans as bankable stars. Vaughn's adherence to reasonably grounded comedy (i.e. the kind that doesn't require him to wear a fat suit or get magical powers or whatever) has limited his options, so he's stuck making the same old shit.

This makes his upcoming turn on True Detective all the more interesting, since a successful shift into drama, or at least a darker form of comedy, could provide him with opportunities to try something new.

Kim Hollis: I think that we've seen all of the frat pack experience a decline with regard to popularity, which makes yesterday's official announcement of Zoolander's return in 2016 interesting. Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Jack Black and Will Ferrell have all had ever decreasing returns in their films, and Vaughn may be the worst off of all of them. Stiller at least has a franchise or two to play with (Night at the Museum 3 was down from the first two, but still a solid performer). Wilson has worked in a lot of quirky, well-received projects that haven't been huge at the box office, but have been popular with critics (Midnight in Paris, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Inherent Vice). Ferrell will have Get Hard coming soon, and we'll probably all be circling back around to this conversation again at that point.

Nonetheless, I'm pretty excited to see Vaughn in True Detective. I really, really like him and want him to find the kind of roles that allow him to shine.


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