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• Friday, February 10, 2006 06:23 AM

  Comedians are basically supporting actors, not stars

  Comedians don't typically have the sort of range you need to carry something for over an hour. How many generations of SNL crossover flops do we have to suffer before the studios see what works and what doesn't? Just cast an okay straight man (or woman), a sweet kid, in the title role, and let the comics make that person react. It works. It's simple. Work it out.

  Albert Brooks is at his best as the brilliant but uncharismatic correspondent in "Broadcast News." When he's running the show, his schtick wears thin painfully fast. The young Robin Williams had as much energy and versatility as most anyone, and in his manic comedic persona he couldn't hold a feature-length movie up. (Refer: "The Survivors.") Steve Martin can play a wooden version of that straight man and toss in some measure of the persona -- but this article is actually using "L.A. Story" as a positive example of the man's work, which says something, yes?

  Okay, I'm still wondering what could possibly have sustained the SNL-sketch level delights of Austin Powers for more than one film -- so it must work for some people. But the star of Caddyshack isn't Bill Murray, and if they'd done it that way it would have plain stunk. Not that Caddyshack was Citizen Kane anyway, but it worked for what it was, and it shouldn't be too hard for producers and studio executives to see why that happened. Should it?

  —Ian Westray
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