The Last Clooney Update

In February 08 George Clooney was at the height of his powers. Michael Clayton was up for 6 Oscars, including Best Picture, he himself was nominated for Best Actor, and Time Magazine ran a cover story calling him "The Last Movie Star". If "last", that would logically imply that he was the 'biggest', not to mention the 'only.'

I wrote a post suggesting that, perhaps, he's not a movie star at all. He is a good actor who appeared in some very good movies, but has neither the track record of iconic movies (think Bogey in Casablanca, African Queen, and The Maltese Falcon) nor a succesful enough box office record to merit that kind of praise.

It's been rough sledding since then. Leatherheads and Burn After Reading, combined, did less than $100 million at the box office, and were critical flops as well.

And in Hollywood, they seem to finally be catching on. A story last week in the LA Times said, about Will Ferrell:

He's in danger of becoming the comedy equivalent of George Clooney, someone who enjoys a great deal of goodwill but who isn't actually a real movie star…