Okay, to be fair, I love Arrested Development. It’s one of the funniest and smartest shows I’ve ever seen on television, and Michael Cera was great on it as George Michael Bluth. He was the lovable loser, the guy you couldn’t help but love for his social awkwardness (and cousin awkwardness).
However, my problem with him is what he’s done since. In every role he’s played since then – Evan in Superbad, Paulie Bleeker in Juno and Nick in Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist – he’s been the same character.
Come on, Michael Cera, are you really that big of a one-trick pony? Can’t you expand your horizons?
Maybe he’s constantly typecast into that role. Maybe he’s only getting these acting gigs because casting directors know he can fulfill the roll to a tee. In that case, it’s really not Cera’s fault – it’s Hollywood. However, don’t you think he should be advocating for a more diverse range of roles? I know I would. I’d be afraid that if I didn’t speak up soon, I’d be forever enslaved to that role of the lovable dork.
Though I didn’t like every movie he’s done – I thought Superbad was Superdumb and Nick and Norah was really just mediocre – he’s played his part well in each film he’s done. I’m just upset that it’s the same role, over and over again. I think he can do better.
I'm gonna have to say I agree with you on this one. I was a bit taken aback when I saw the headline, because I love Michael Cera, but then upon reading, I realized you were right. He is the lovable geeky character that reminds us all of our best friends from middle school. Except that's all he is. Ever. I do think he has a good amount of talent, but he really needs to break out of the stereotypical role that he is building for himself. I think seeing him doing something darker would be really interesting. He should take some risks, if it fails, he can easily fall back into being America's favorite film dork.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm going to have to disagree with you on Superbad. I loved it. It was a great movie, only because of it's general geekiness and ability to remind me of high school (which wasn't that long ago, but definitely feels like it was).