Open Forum Friday: Why Are All of Luke Wilson’s Movies Going Direct to DVD?
This week I was reminded of something I had been meaning to post about for a while now. Buried among the lacklustre DVD releases that hit stores this past Tuesday was a little movie called Blonde Ambition. While it’s not that surprising to see Jessica Simpson’s latest comedy go direct to DVD, the thing that did jump out at me was the name listed beside hers on the front cover: Luke Wilson. Yes, that’s right, Luke Wilson, brother of comedy superstar Owen Wilson, a man who has graced us with such films as Bottle Rocket, The Royal Tenenbaums and Old School, is now sitting in the bargain bin alongside a washed up pop star. What happened?
Sure, everyone is entitled to a few stinkers, but if you look at his most recent films, Luke Wilson seems to be going through a rough patch lately with movies like Idiocracy, The Wendell Baker Story and Mini’s First Time all essentially going direct to DVD as well. Granted, My Super Ex-Girlfriend and Vacancy both received wide releases (and mediocre reviews), but the guy hasn’t had a big hit for a while. He did have a small part in 3:10 to Yuma, although a lot of people found him out of place in it.
So here’s my question: is he just catching some bad breaks lately, or has he never really been a big name in Hollywood? Maybe I’m just surprised because I see him as being at the same level as his brother, when in actuality he doesn’t have anywhere near the same track record as Owen. I still think he’s a funny guy though, and it sucks to see him struggling to find decent roles. What do you say? Does Luke Wilson deserve better? Give us your thoughts here on Open Forum Friday.
Comments (7)
I like Luke Wilson a lot (possibly more than Owen Wilson, and I adore Owen) but no, I don’t think he’s ever really been a big name in Hollywood, even with the cult success of Old School. He seems to have more success in movies when he’s not the lead and when he is the lead, the films tend to skew towards really awful stories and scripts (possibly because other, bigger names wouldn’t touch those?). I didn’t see things like “My Super Ex-Girlfriend”, but if I had to guess I’d say that a film like that doesn’t really play to his strengths.
Posted by Liz on January 25th, 2008Don’t forget “The Third Wheel” with Luke, Ben Affleck and Denise Richards.
Posted by AC on January 25th, 2008He’s been playing the role of the love interest in shitty movies for a while now. The only difference being Charlie’s Angels and Legally Blond were successful shitty movies.
I thought he was pretty good in The Family Stone he played an Owen Wilson type character.
Posted by Croft on January 25th, 2008I think maybe its more the case that people are’nt sure what to cast him as, i think hes a good actor, but i think he gets a bad deal because its hard to imagine what kind of roles would suit him.He was great in Royal Tenenbaums, but im not sure what kind of role would play to his particular strengths.I dont think he suits comedy roles as much as his brother, maybe he would be better suited to more serious parts?
Nice fuckin guy.
Posted by Marney on January 26th, 2008In 2003 Luke Wilson was in 3 of the worst films ever.
Legally Blonde 2
Charlie’s Angels 2
Alex and Emma
ever since then he’s made crap. He never parlayed The success of “Old School” into anything good.
Posted by Alex on January 27th, 2008I’m a big fan of Luke Wilson so I think it’s too bad that his projects haven’t gone well as of late. I guess maybe the reason he hasn’t taken off as much as he should is because he seems so low-key. He doesn’t seem to fit the typical Hollywood star persona. Supporting roles probably suit him the best. Roles like in The Royal Tenenbaums are great because he can do his thing in it without having to carry the entire film.
By the way, his beard in The Royal Tenenbaums is probably one of the best beards in all of cinema.
Posted by Aaron on January 27th, 2008I love Idiocracy and wouldn’t rank it with his recent movies as far as quality goes; but, yeah, maybe along with all the other problems that movie ran into, having Luke Wilson as the biggest name attached to it probably didn’t help its chances of success…
Posted by Joel on January 28th, 2008Leave a Reply