is not an actor.

Poco

I don't know why you want to go to all that trouble to put down Ben Affleck. Did you even see the movie? From the clip they link to on Video Dog, it appears Affleck does just fine. Apparently his scenes are more affecting than those of the Oscar-winning Adrien Brody. Pretty good for a guy who is "not an actor," huh?

I don't consider Ben Affleck a great actor, but at least he's trying. I thought he was terrific in "Boiler Room," pretty solid in "Changing Lanes," and very fun to watch in "Reindeer Games" (a totally underrated suspense flick).

Affleck may have made some really bad choices along the way -- "Daredevil," "Gigli," "Surviving Christmas," "Pearl Harbor," and anything directed by Kevin "indie hack" Smith -- but who among us bothered to see those dismally reviewed films anyway?

Don't be a hater.

Cannot act, period.

Funny how he held is own with one of the greatest screen actors of all time - Peter O'Toole - in the movie PHANTOMS. And O'Toole had nothing but praise for him.

Saw the film last night. Nobody does a bad job, really, but it was one of the dullest movies I've seen. Seriously. Affleck is a bore in general, so I didn't expect much from him, Diane Lane's character doesn't have enough depth to make me care about her, and Brody is horribly miscast. He carries himself like a dude who just popped into the movie from, oh, 2006.

Plus, it was boring, ponderous, and depressing without even making me feel virtuous about being bummed out. I even fell asleep during what my friend said was a pivotal scene. My reaction? "Oh. Whatever."

I agree with a previous poster that Ben Affleck has given some pretty good performances (I loved Reindeer Games), and here I thought he did a pretty good job. And Diane Lane was, IMHO, fabulous.

But the whole Adrian Brody story line just sucks every breath of life out of the movie. I don't know that Brody is miscast, just that the part was poorly conceived and written. The amount of actual dectective work he does regarding the death of Reeves is so miniscule that it doesn't seem to justify the amount of screen time the character gets. He just doesn't do anything all that interesting. Pesonally, I was almost asleep by the time the thing finally ended.

Has anyone who has posted critical comments about Ben Affleck ever tried to act on camera?

Or, at the very least, have you ever given a speech or presentation that was videotaped? Or been in an acting class where you were videotaped?

Maybe you could videotape yourself delivering a monologue from one of Ben Affleck's movies, post it for comments, and see how you compare.

What is up with the BA defenders? Are we supposed to feel sorry for him? I don't hate him, but he is no acting powerhouse. So what? Is it wrong to have that opinion? I couldn't perform surgery either, but that wouldn't stop me from not wanting a surgeon who is good.

Get some perspective, you weirdos.

While you're all on the subject, I'm curious... I don't watch very many movies, but when I do I'm often surprised that the acting is not more compelling than it is. Too often I feel like I don't really care about the people on screen.

Maybe its really the fault of the writers, or maybe I'm just an old crank, but it doesn't seem like there are many "must see" actors today. Are there any actors (either male or female) whose work you look forward to seeing?

I'm always up for seeing performances by Jake Gyllenhall, Hilary Swank, Ewan MacGregor, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, and there's a few others who can turn in something very interesting (Colin Farrell, Jim Carrey, Reese Witherspoon) every now and then.

And I agree Affleck isn't much of an actor but I've always hoped he'd get some chops because he seems like a likeable guy in 'real life', whatever that means to regular people trying to figure out what a celeb is like. Maybe this movie is the start....

Ben Affleck suffers from a on-screen charisma deficit. That is not the same as being a "bad actor." There are horrible actors who grab the eye on-screen and don't let go, Tom Cruise being a prime example.

Mr. Affleck is a very servicable actor just not "movie star" material. He doesn't project anything "special" enough. And I think that accounts from some of the hostility I've seen directed at him.

However, and ironically, it does make him the perfect choice to play George Reeves who had the same defect as an actor. Reeves' bland handsomeness and light charm registered far more strongly on the small screen and really did make him a star though he couldn't recognize it as such. In his day, tv personalities didn't get as much attention and respect as they do now, unless they were commedians.

Mr. Affleck has shown talent in more than one area of show business. He will just have to find his proper niche and then be content with it. That will put him far ahead of poor George Reeves.

How else dignify, in 1959, the relationship between my father's first and only cousin, Lenore Lemmon, and George Reeves? Did she have a ring? Or did she think the third time would be a charm? Annulled once, married to a wife-beater next, it seems no wonder that the 35-year-old Cafe Society socialite (the Jewish Brenda Frasier, as she was known), would have clung to the label. Fiancee has a much better ring to it than homewrecker.

As she said, the day following Reeves' death in an Earl Wilson New York Post column, "The [Hollywood] system is what killed him." Wilson continued to follow Lenore's adventures in his column throughout the rest of his career. Did she or didn't she pull the trigger? Not even "Hollywoodland" has an answer. Can Ben Afleck act? Do I care? I will see the film for personal reasons; critical aclaim or lack thereof is beside the point.

I never met Lenore. We communicated via telephone, echoes of my late grandmother's voice, slightly slurred, in her speech. I let the social worker be our go-between. She was estranged from her father, my great-Uncle Arthur, to the point she didn't attend -- and her absence was noted -- his funeral. Uncle Arthur was as close to a grandfather as I had.

The Superman fanatics I encountered 12 years ago, in the days of Web search infancy, all considered Lenore the evil Eastern influence. Given her capacity to overindulge, I rather doubt she had the coordination to hold the gun. And it is my adult experience that no one can influence you unless you permit it, whether you are over it or under it. For generations my family has thrived under it.

Our family maid, sent to clean Lenore's apartment at my father's behest, was allowed only to bartend, she told me. From what I could see in the 1980s tabloid TV shows, Lenore's looks swam in a case of empty vodka bottles. Robin Tunney, who played her in "Hollywoodland," has said, in essence, "she had balls." Welcome to my family: no wusses welcomed.

Lenore died a year before my father. Only I know where the bodies are buried.