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(1968– ). Canadian actor.
Provided voice for animated films: Balto (uncredited)
(Simon Wells 1995); "Damnit, Hollywood" (1997), episode of Duckma:
Private Dick/Family Man; "King of the Hill" (1998), episode of The
Simpsons; Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists (Gordon Hunt and Evan
Ricks 1999); "Peggy Makes the Big Leagues" (2000), "Gone with
the Windstorm" (2005), episodes of King of the Hill; Beach Bunny
(short) (Bill Kopp, Rich Moore, Dan Povenmire, and Peter Shin 2004).
That is why I was utterly
foolish, years ago, to craft an entry on the still-active Brendan Fraser, and
why I am now compelled to yet again revise my comments on his variegated and
consistently surprising career.
Fraser first came to my
attention when, in the course of six months, he starred in three films, all
falling within the scope of this volume, that otherwise were as dissimilar as
films could possibly be. First, in Gods and Monsters, portraying a
paramour of the aging homosexual director James
WHALE,
Fraser demonstrated that, properly cast, he can avoid embarrassing himself or
his cohorts in a serious dramatic role—but we had already known that, from his
adventures outside of the genre such as With Honors (1994) and Mrs.
Winterbourne (1996). However, one needs to add, he always seems slightly
uneasy in these situations, sometimes flashing a quizzical grimace that is not
quite in character as if to ask, "Why did they cast me in this
film?" And while such a quality may only add to his charm as a male
ingenue, this air of uncertainty will be less appealing if retained when he
ages into more mature roles.
Fraser looked more comfortable
in the next film under consideration, Blast from the Past: portraying
the scion of a deluded family, trapped underground for decades in a bomb
shelter, who is suddenly exposed to the contemporary world, he proved how
skillfully he can play the straight man in a knockabout farce—but we had
already known that as well, from films like Encino Man and George of
the Jungle (and we would learn it again, albeit less enjoyably, from the
inferior Dudley Do-Right). Seemingly unsettled when he is taken seriously,
Fraser delights in being laughed at—a rare and underappreciated talent. (A
predilection for juvenile comedy might also explain his regular willingness to
lend his voice to animated films, even though he cannot find such work either
challenging or lucrative.)
What we had not known, and
what his third film The Mummy proved beyond a reasonable doubt, is that
Fraser cannot function as a persuasive hero in an action film. True, in a
popcorn movie filled with spectacular special effects that made the inept
expository scenes and laughable attempts at character development worth
enduring, Fraser's numb and perfunctory performance was not a grave liability;
but sometimes, even a film driven by stunts and dazzling visual effects will
need a leading man who can convey some conviction and concern about the
unfolding storyline, and Fraser is manifestly not the actor to be called upon
in those circumstances. Incredibly, however, the franchise has survived to
generate not only a sequel but a third installment, along with related projects
for an amusement park and a video game, and even if the profits from the third
film were disappointing, Hollywood's ongoing inability or unwillingness to risk
trying something new means that a fourth film, unfortunately, cannot be ruled
out.
The fact that he has
continued to alternate between these various sorts of projects suggests that
Brendan Fraser, while he can be an appealing figure on the screen, is an actor
who lacks self-confidence: rather than seeking out or nurturing projects that
would help him establish an enduring celluloid persona, he adapts himself to
whatever scripts are offered to him, and he seems effective and visibly at ease
only when he is constantly the butt of jokes, as if he subconsciously accepts
that such treatment in such films is what he truly deserves. My original
prediction, then, was that Fraser would eventually abandon, or be driven away
from, his determined eclecticism to settle into a career as the Leslie NIELSEN
of his generation, another performer who never quite made it as a dramatic
actor but blossomed as the stone-faced centerpiece of inane comedies.
However, writing years after
this entry was first written, I now recognize that I failed to detect another
aspect of Fraser's personality: extreme stubbornness. Even though he is mostly
sought out for, and seems best suited for, inane comedies like Joe DANTE's
superb Looney Tunes: Back in Action, he instructs his agent to keep
getting him into serious films like Crash (2004) and Journey to the
End of the Night (2006), as if still hoping to win an Academy Award against
all odds. And yes, he still wants to be an action hero too, as evidenced by his
not-quite-commanding appearances in 2008's back-to-back Journey to the
Center of the Earth and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor; and
since a sequel to the former film (more successful than the latter) is not only
dreaded, but actually in production, we can be assured that Fraser will
continue to ruin our summers with films that are ill-suited to his limited
strengths as an actor. A filmgoer's only hope, as already suggested, is that
the restless Fraser will someday develop an urge to direct and will move out of
view, behind the camera.
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