How many of you out there saw Couples Retreat this weekend? It made approximately $35 million at the box office, so some of you had to have seen it. Obviously, the general public felt differently than I did: that it was worthy of their $12.
I have no problem with people who saw it because it’s a film that plays to attract any number of age groups and audiences.
What gets me is how the film was marketed. Vince Vaughn was the only star of the film that was plugged to the public. He was on all the posters and his name was mentioned in the trailer.
There was no mention of Jason Bateman or Jon Favreau. But most importantly, from my point of view, there was no Kristen Bell.
She’s one of the most genuinely funny female performers out there right now, and she was barely a byline on the poster.
This made me agitated but it also got me thinking. The ratio of funny men to women in Hollywood is atrocious; yet when there is actually the chance to market a movie where there is genuinely hilarious female talent like that of Kristen Bell, it falls by the wayside.
Seriously, if you were to walk up to a random person on the street and ask them to name their favourite comedy performer right now, I would bet 49 times out of 50, they would name a man.
Once upon a time, things were completely different.
Why have women supposedly tanked comedy-wise since the 40s? Comedy is one of the hardest things to perfect in the acting world. It takes hard work; a good comedian can still chew the scenery no matter how small the role.
But, it’s the same for both genders, so what’s the deal? That’s why I can’t fathom the fact that women are so underappreciated in this circumstance.
Kristen Wiig may be one of the funniest performers to ever come out of Saturday Night Live, yet the cast is still male-dominated. Judy Greer is currently one of the greatest character actresses, but you never see her name on the marquee.
Don’t get me wrong, there are definitely some gals out there who are getting the appreciation they deserve.
Tina Fey finally got the public to tune in to 30 Rock and Amy Poehler is doing quite well since finally breaking out of SNL. But it took Fey three seasons before anyone started acknowledging her comedic mind.
And people like Sandra Bullock and Anne Hathaway, who are staples of the romantic-comedy genre, still don’t get applauded because people think that it doesn’t take much to “walk through” those kinds of roles.
Sometimes, it’s just a case of being pitted as the “straight man” but that often takes more talent than playing the goof.
This really needs to desist, and I’m taking the first stand.
The bottom line is that funny is a hell of a lot more attractive than the Megan Fox’s of the world trying to pout their way through serious roles. And the box office for Jennifer’s Body definitely shows that I’m not alone in thinking this.
So, I implore you to broaden your horizons. Seek out the heavyweights of yester-year like Lucille Ball, Gilda Radner or Carol Burnett. Take in the current and future queens of the genre like Anna Faris and Emma Stone.
And don’t forget the Allison Janneys and Catherine O’Haras, those great character actresses who never seem to get the recognition they whole-heartedly deserve.
There are women out there who are just as funny as men. They just don’t want us to know it.
