C’mon Hollywood #120

… where in the world is Michael Keaton?
by Sturdy

Sometimes I wonder why certain stars vanish from the Hollywood spotlight. I know some actors choose to avoid the spotlight to focus on their family (Meg Ryan), do some indie projects (Marisa Tomei) and some leave because they’re sick of the business (Joe Pesci). Then there are a few that seemingly vanish from the limelight for apparently no reason. Usually, I don’t care but other times I find it extremely frustrating that we don’t see more of a great actor like Michael Keaton.

I’m not going to spend the entire article slurping of Michael Keaton, but let’s just say I think the guy is a fantastic actor that pulls off comedic and dramatic roles with the best of them. He has a great screen presence and makes every movie he’s in that much better. Any mention of Michael Keaton has to have a mention of BATMAN. At the risk of offending all of the uber-Christian Bale fans, I still feel that Michael Keaton was the best Batman. Ironically, his decision to not reprise his role as the Dark Knight in later Batman movies might be one of the reasons he’s not a major Hollywood player today.

I loved Christian Bale, but nobody did it like Keaton.

I think most people today only remember him for being Batman, but Michael Keaton was great in his comedic roles too. Films like DREAM TEAM and even MULTIPLICITY were funny films that Keaton was great in. Also, he did well in some of his earlier comedies and his SNL appearances were some of the best. Although he started off doing comedies, his best performances were in his dramatic roles. I don’t see how anyone can watch MY LIFE and not shed a tear or two. I hoped that his turn in JACKIE BROWN would be the start of a big comeback, but I guess it wasn’t meant to be.

Sniff…sniff…anyone have a tissue?

Although I think it was a great decision for him to not reprise his role in BATMAN FOREVER, I will say he doesn’t make the best decisions when it comes to choosing roles. I guess if I have one complaint about the guy, it’s that he didn’t star in enough good films at the height of his success. Usually, when he was the main star, I made comments like; “Michael Keaton was great, but the movie sucked”, as with THE PAPER, SPEECHLESS, DESPERATE MEASURES and several others. However, he has enough great performances under his belt to earn him a spot among Hollywood’s best. Of course, in order to claim that spot, he would have to actually star in something and not just appear in something. Why is such a great actor relegated to garbage like FIRST DAUGHTER and WHITE NOISE? Don’t you think the former Caped Crusader deserves better than starring opposite Katie Holmes and a broken TV?

I think what he needs is a chance to prove himself to Hollywood again. He needs a Tarrantino or a Fincher to put him in one of their movies so he can show the world how great he is. I, for one, miss the guy and hope that he can get away from these lame horror films and even worse preteen movies.