So last night I’m flicking around the TV channels (just local, as I don’t have cable), and came across an entirely generic teen romance soaper starring, to quote my thoughts, “I think that may be Freddie Prince Jr.,” (it’s actually Prinze, I guess), and “I think that’s that one chick who was the hot older sister on Seventh Heaven.”
I was right in both cases—which made me fairly depressed, in a way—and since I’ve never seen a movie with Freddie Prinze Jr., in it, I don’t know whether he seems semi-retarded all the time or just in this movie. (Checking in on the IMDB, I see the film has lots of other vaguely familiar kid actors in it, not one of whom I’d have recognized: Matthew Lillard, Jason Gedrick, Brittany Murphy [although she does play Luanne on King of the Hill), etc.)
Anyway, I watched for a short while because Prinze’s ‘character’ was on a baseball team, and I dig baseball. I didn’t see much of the movie—because I’m not Super Masochist Man—but it was obvious that She Was Rich, and He was the Poor Blue Collar Kid of the Guy Who Cut Her Dad’s Lawn, But They Loved Each Other, but Her Rich Arrogant Dad Wanted Better for Her…blah, blah, blah.
As I watched, though, what really appalled me was the horrifying supporting cast. In this case, the supporting cast was horrifying because it consisted of a seemingly endless parade of actors who are entirely too good to be playing nothing parts in a Freddie Prinze Jr., movie. Look! Bruce Davidson! Hey! Brian Dennehy! Wow! Fred Ward! Gee! John C. MacGinley! Pow! Beverly D’Angelo!
I mean, I understand trying to add a little heft and class to a lightweight movie by casting one too-good-for-the-joint actor the mix, but this one had five! And since there were so many of them, none of them—as far as I could tell from the amount of the movie I saw, although I doubt I’m wrong—had a part nearly substantial enough for even a fine actor to do anything with. Basically, it was quite obviously an easy paycheck movie for each of them.
Someday all these fine actors will be dead, and we’ll all be left to wonder why so they all had to squander their gifts in utterly worthless crap like this.
