In what turned out to be my last precious hours before a traumatic flying experience (wait, that’s redundant) I happened to catch most of Ben Stiller’s newest raunch fest “Tropic Thunder”. Besides a rather disturbing opening sequence that I was hopelessly unprepared for, the scatological humor and endless political incorrectness made me laugh in spite of myself.
What concerns/interests me the most is not the movie itself but the overwhelmingly male driven, acted, and produced films coming out of Hollywood in recent months. I know Manohla Dargis for the New York Times has recently written about this in her piece “Is There a Real Woman In the Multiplex”, and to her point one doesn’t have to look past this summer’s box office listings to witness the industry trend: “Tropic Thunder”, “Pineapple Express”, “Dark Knight”, “The Mummy 8″ (or whatever), “Iron Man”, that ridiculous super hero movie with Will Smith, I mean the list is endless. To be fair, “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2″ and “Mamma Mia!” buck the trend, but it seems like these days even Meryl Streep has to compromise her integrity as an actress to get work.
Don’t get me wrong, I love a good Sci-Fi action flick as much any costumed Trekkie and buddy comedies are OK, sometimes – check out Billy Wilder’s hilarious, transvestite romp “Some Like It Hot” if you want to see Judd Apatow’s predecessor – but where have all the good female roles gone? Is it that people don’t want to watch women in powerful, funny leading roles or that the parts just aren’t being written? Maybe it goes back to the old boys’ books/girls’ books thing.
As superhero flicks replete with flawed, ineffectual, and/or dark-sided protagonists and thinly veiled political allegories continue to dominate the local AMC 16, Pepper Pots will have to suffice for talented actresses like Gweneth Paltrow.
