Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Hump Day Hottie: Topher Grace

One of the maddening things about huge movies is that the blame (if people don't like it) and the credit (if they do) often goes to the wrong places. Disappointed patrons of Spider-Man 3 are already blaming easy target Kirsten Dunst for the whiny Mary Jane passages Ummmm, she didn't write the script: not her fault the movie decides she didn't have that arc in Spider-Man 2 where she gets dreamy/feisty @ the end ---"Go get 'em Tiger" and whatnot...

Speaking of tigers... Topher Grace rrrrrowrr. I'm sure as S3 continues to simultaneously pack them in and disappoint he'll be shouldering some of the blame for a somewhat unsatisfying rendition of "Venom". But the movie doesn't give him much to do. That's even more of a pity since he hasn't been doing many films since that busy year in 2004 when he was all over the place. Nevertheless I always appreciate what he does.

Lots of guys who aren't exactly typical leading men end up in the 'cocky/smarmy other guy' casting zone. Remember James Spader in the 80s? Yeah, that. Topher is one of the few who can play that type of part without the skeeviness. You can love to hate him without feeling icky spending time with him. He's too damn cute for skeevy.

He's also a good actor and when he gets a sweeter role, like the three he nailed in 2004: P.S., In Good Company, or Win a Date With Tad Hamilton! you want him to end up with the girl ...or at least a girl if he's with the wrong one.


Up next for Topher: The lead in the college dramedy Kids in America which should be out next year and, more promisingly (at least on paper) he is in talks to star with Terrence Howard (playing Thurgood Marshall) in the historical legal drama The Crusaders which is about the battle to end segregation.

related post: my thoughts on Spider-Man 3 (in case you're joining us late)

5 comments:

Beau said...

Yeah.
Yummy.

Anonymous said...

marry me topher! yumm

Anonymous said...

mmm mmm good that one....

Glenn Dunks said...

Yeah, I like Topher. He actually looks like a pretty normal guy and not like she spends every waking moment in the gym or taking roids.

I do hope he gets some comedy to really sink his teeth into. He is really quite good at it.

And, yes, it's not Topher's fault that his character (the Venom half) only came about in the final third, and its also not his fault that the makeup department gave him bad highlights.

Glenn Dunks said...

she = he, obviously...

"She's a he!"