A Big Mistake

It feels strangely appropriate that in the week leading up to tonight's Oscars, one of the movie channel has been repeatedly showing "Predators" starring Adrian Brody. Seriously, it has been on a near-constant loop for the last couple of days. It is almost as though the Oscar Academy is making a concerted effort to put him back in the spotlight and I think they have a very serious and real reason for doing this - it is meant to serve as a warning to everyone up for an award tonight: don't let this happen to you.

In retrospect, you can argue that no Oscar win is as surprising or random as Adrian Brody's for "The Pianist". Sure, Marisa Tomei wasn't doing great work for a while there, but she has rebounded nicely the last couple of years. And even though Mira Sorvino appears to have fallen off the face of the Earth (I couldn't even tell you the last movie she was in), I would contend retirement was a better career choice than signing on as one of Gillette's "Masters of Style" with facial hair that make you look like the mask from "V for Vendetta." It makes me wonder if the people voting in the Oscar race should start considering an actor's long-term prospects as well as their current resume when voting. After all, they don't want their award to become like the Heisman Trophy, where winning it is almost seen as a curse for the rest of your career.

I'm not even going to crush Brody for doing a movie like "Predators", because plenty of Oscar winners have put out clunkers after getting the award. It must be very hard to pick the next couple of roles because I'm sure that after you've won an Oscar the studios just start throwing so much money at you that it becomes hard to say no even if the script is terrible. Never forget, Jamie Foxx's first release following "Ray" was the highly forgettable "Steath" in which he wasn't even the lead. But the thing is that Brody hasn't even come close to recapturing the form that won him the award for Best Actor. Honestly, it doesn't feel like he's even trying at this point - he's too busy doing creepy Heineken commercials. (Plenty of big actors do commercials, but they have the good sense to make sure they only air in other countries.) Brody is taking on the feel of Hollywood's version of an "American Idol" contestant who seems content to spend the rest of his days living off his one hit while touring the casino circuit. So, let this be a warning to anyone who wins an Oscar tonight - it doesn't mean your career is set. Also, for the love of God, read the script all the way through before agree to being in the movie. Don't make us come and take the Oscar back.