Cellars of IMDb: Brendan Fraser Is Taller Than You Are
He's six foot three. He might not be taller than you, but only if you're six three or better.



Moving on.

When last we dove into the depths of the dumpster that is the Internet Movie Database we found ourselves faced with former teen heartthrob Matt Dillon, and watched as he matured from playing attractively villainous teenagers swirling with machismo and rage into playing attractively villainous adults swirling with machismo and rage. That's called range, babe. We left off with Crash.

In said film Fraser plays a hopelessly politicized district attorney perfectly adequately.



Fraser has a history of solid performances all manner of roles in serious dramas. But that's not what you recognize him from. No, you know as any number of hunky, well-meaning "fish out of water" in atrocious comedies. Here, have a look.


Yeah, they were pretty bad. After six years of smaller movies and smaller parts George of the Jungle sky-rocketed him onto Hollywood's A-list and his parade of dimwits continued on, though with some better movies mixed in there.

The Mummy would be one such film. The Mummy Returns would not. Back to the nitwits, in 2000 he played that guy. You know that guy. He was in your high school class. He ate his boogers, didn't he? And you know he didn't have any friends, but gosh, he sure was friendly.

Bedazzled. Not a bad movie. Fraser plays that guy, who is hopeless in love with some random hottie he has no chance of getting. Then suddenly his lock changes. Enter the devil, played by Liz Hurley.


Yes, the devil wears a bikini. Zip back up and come back to Brendan Fraser with me, will you? Actually, you know what? Never mind.




I think we're done. Almost. Just a little one.



So the upshot is Liz Hurley is hot, so you should rent Bedazzled. By yourself. Or not, since Fraser's character metamorphoses into various id monsters and Fraser plays each incarnation with a great deal of verve and gusto.

Brendan Fraser. He hasn't just been a goofball, though. Really! Recently he's found himself in critically acclaimed films like Gods and Monsters and The Quiet American. True, he did play a sexy pool boy in the former, but it was a character with deep inner conflict. And highly developed pecs. But there was conflict there too!


Still, in all his successful movies he plays, well, Airheads.

That's Adam Sandler and Steve Buscemi with him. The film also features a disturbingly bearded Judd Nelson and Spinal Tap frontman Michael McKean. The movie is decidedly mediocre by most standards, but I really liked it. Until I saw it on Comedy Central every day for what seemed like years. It got a little tiresome then.

So, wrapping up.

Brendan's come a long way since his first major role, a caveman named Link awakened into modern California in the unfortunate Pauly Shore vehicle (Is there any other kind?), Encino Man.* Don't see this. Ever.


Back then he played a young man completely out of his element with little to no brain power. Since then he's branched to play many, many more of the same characters. And some good ones too! Really, he's a perfectly acceptable dramatic actor, even if most of the time he's making awful slapstick.




And remember the guiding light, lest we forget the glory that be Lemon Party.
Because your blog sucks.

*This week's trivia note: Fraser appears in two other Pauly Shore movie, albeit only briefly. In both movies he has cameo appearances as Link, though Shore does not play the same character. Well he does because he only knows how to portray himself, but the names are different.
- posted by Odovaucer @ 1:33 AM