Ah, pay cable. The
great equalizer. Sure, it takes a certain something special to get a major
studio to finance your film, then like it enough to release it with lots of
prints and advertising. But suppose you got a film fulla stars and you still
ain’t got that magic? There’s still no reason to fret because someday you’ll
get real estate next to flicks like The Departed…or Get Rich or Die Tryin’….or,
umm……Aeon
Flux…or…yikes…y’know, maybe this whole premium channel thing isn’t all
it’s cracked up to be.
It’s still the best
(and virtually only) way that people will see puzzling stuff like Ben Affleck’s
Man
About Town AKA the film that marked the descent of his acting career
into Direct-to-DVD Hell. Watching him front this jumbled industry satire, I
felt embarrassed for the guy, and I truly thought he’d go full into directing
with his Gone Baby Gone at least showing some signs of promise. What
signs the directing career hasn’t shown are dollar signs, and that likely
accounts for his decision to jump in front of the camera once again.
He’s just signed
(along with anyone in Hollywood who’s white and fairly easy on the eyes with even
the slightest hole in their pre-strike schedule) for He’s Just Not That Into You,
where he’ll be playing Jennifer Aniston’s boyfriend. And just because I feel
like a dick for having read about this, here’s a major spoiler: He’s not that
into the bitch. Well, he’s “into” her, ifyknowwhatimsayin….but he just doesn’t
want to commit to marriage, which is somehow automatically a magical sign of
dysfunction. I mean, come on….isn’t marriage the natural evolutionary end of
all relationships? One size fits all, right?
As for Affleck, no
downside here. Paycheck, visibility, nifty co-stars, and a non-starring role make
this a win-win-win for him. But I think he’s more invested in the directing
thing these days, too, so I think he’s got his chips on Gone Baby Gone.