Cusack for pres...

John Cusack for PResident..hmm..it could happen I guess.
I found a funny "vote for his cabinet" site.
http://www.johncusack2004.com

Post it here, please.
http://www.movieforums.com/forums/sh...?threadid=1047

Am I the only one who doesn't fully grasp this man.

He is an actor of very limited range. I didn't like High Fidelity, his character was so depressing. Oh, I went out with someone who looks like Catherine Zeta Jones and yet my life is miserable.

And he almost destroyed Being John Malkovich. Was he the bad guy? I hope so, because I really disliked his character. And yet, I doubt they made the film's lead an evil character.

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I couldn't believe that she knew my name. Some of my best friends didn't know my name.

You think protagonsits have to be likeable? Hmmm, that must severely limit what kinds of movies you watch and literature you read.

No, Craig Schwartz in Being John Malkovich was not supposed to be likeable, but a small, petty, pitiful, warped, and selfish individual. High Fidelity's Rob Gordon is a bit of a self-centered shallow schmuck, you bet. It's rather the point of those two narratives. If that somehow hampers you from enjoying the films, I don't know what to tell you.

Here's a brief list of other unheroic, unpleasant, and generally unlikeable protagonists you can avoid: Charles Foster Kane in Citizen Kane, Alex of A Clockwork Orange, Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, Jake LaMotta the Raging Bull, Popeye Doyle in The French Connection, The Stranger of High Plains Drifter, Michael Corleone in The Godfather films, Allie Fox on The Mosquito Coast, Joe Gideon in All That Jazz, General George S. Patton, and virtually any central character in a Woody Allen movie from Annie Hall onward. BTW, these are also some of the greatest characters, performances, and films you're ever likely to see.

As for Cusack, some other roles similar to Being John Malkovich and High Fidelity you may want to skip are in The Grifters, Bullets Over Broadway, and Tapeheads. Sadly, if you avoid these flicks you'll be missing some of John Cusack's very best work.

If you want to see an all-around more agreeable and likeable character portrayed by Cusack, check out Say Anything..., The Sure Thing, Grosse Pointe Blank, and Better Off Dead - all good movies too. But I think it would be a pity to miss out on the darker side of the guy. But that's up to you, of course.

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

LIMITED RANGE???? blasphemy!

Jake La Motta was a horrible character and yet you feel for him when he's punching the walls in his cell, and you pity him when he does his comic act.

Rupert Pupkin in King of Comedy was a detestable human being and yet there's something strangely amiable about him. He's a horrible man with big dreams. And his stand up routine was funny.

Alex in A Clockwork Orange was a tyrant and yet I felt sorry for him when he returned home to find his room taken. I didn't want him to suffer through the torture and felt pain when they destroyed Ludwig Van.

Each one of the other characters you listed are anti-heroes. They might not do likeable things but the director makes you understand them all the same.

Cusack's character in Being John Malkovich, frankly, I didn't understand. This is the actor's fault. Cusack, as a performer is amiable. He comes across as a nice guy, but he wants to play darker parts that I think are out of his range. His performance in Malkovich was confusing because the actor and the character contrasted so greatly.

In Malkovich, the character at the beginning was a loser, desperate to prove that a life can be made out of puppeteering. There was no sadistic edge to him. But the film veers towards sadism when he inhabits Malkovich fully. A different actor, De Niro, for example wouldn't have come across as nice as Cusack, and it would have been more believable when he made such a character change.

And if he's not supposed to be a hero in High Fidelity, then why would we be rooting for him to succeed and get back together with his girl at the end. That film would have been unwatchable if not for Jack Black.

Being John Malkovich was just a confused picture as a whole. When a movie like that tries to do everything differently its bound to not work. If they had just done one or two things out of the box, it could have saved a project.