Sometimes television can be a wonderful thing. Banished to oblivion [or The Valley, depending on which is considered worse], Jason Bateman has come back and come back HARD after taking the lovely Arrested Development and springboarding the leading role of the show into first a series of fun cameos and now to a comfortable spot as the 3rd or 4th billed cast member on larger, high profile films.
No one deserves it more. Bateman has been a working actor since an age where his classmates were still looking at their mother’s tits like a drinking fountain suddenly graced with an "out of order" sign.
His latest casting coup de grace is in the Edward Norton/Brad Pitt flick State of Play, which is thankfully not an adaptation of Michael Crichton’s State of Fear [the second to latest book to make me wonder why fuck I liked this author EVER] and the latest film from the director who made you realize that Forrest Whitaker makes for a good despot. While Pitt and Norton won’t be making soap or being each other in the film [Beak’s news item, Crop Report], they will have some meaty actor moments in the true story adaptation and with Bateman on board as a driven reporter you know it’ll be a chance to see the guy show off his chops. We know he’s funny and from what I saw in The Kingdom [really good movie, by the way] it’s obvious that Bateman can hold his own with the best of ’em.
Here’s hoping he can capitalize further and become someone we know as a leading man as opposed to just being considered a funny actor.
Also, is Justine still cute? I hope she is. I kind of need her to still be cute.