How quickly things can change in Hollywood. One day, you’re one of the most beloved artists in the world; the next, you’re the poster child for everything that’s bad and cheap about an industry. It’s enough to give a person whiplash – just ask Jack Black.
Black, peppery and eccentric star Rock School And Kung Fu Pandafaced a significant amount of criticism after the first trailer was released A Minecraft MovieIn the film, a big-budget adaptation of the massive video game of the same name, Black plays a character known as “Minecraft Steve” and tries to impose his own outsized personality on what is initially a characterless avatar. People, to be fair, we didn’t haveThe backlash on social media was numerous and devastating, with one widely shared tweet saying: “I think we as a society need to accept that Jack Black is now Chris Pratt.”Jurassic World (Star Pratt is an actor synonymous with cheap blockbusters; he’s a performer whose net-acclaim ratings would drive even a seasoned politician to become a press adviser.)
A Minecraft Movie This isn’t the only recent sign against Black’s name: just a few weeks ago, he was lending his name and voice to Border areasanother tasteless video game adaptation that some people are claiming is the worst movie of the year. Not long before that, he had a heartbreaking falling out with his Tenacious D bandmate Kyle Gass: Black apparently ended their decades-long collaboration and called off the band’s tour midway through the band’s tour after Gass made a joke about the attempted assassination of Donald Trump during one of the band’s live shows. (He has since hinted at a possible reunion, but his reputation has been damaged by a controversy that would otherwise be over in a few days.) Black’s reputation has never been lower. But for all his admirable quirks as an actor, this decline (can we call it the Black Death?) was a long time coming.
The truth is, Black has always walked a fine line when it comes to public taste. Even his best performances – Rock School being the consensus-approved pinnacle – straddling the line between greatness and edginess, charming enthusiasm and irresistible look-at-me-ness. Black’s first notable role was in the romantic comedy Music Nerd High Loyaltystole scenes as an obnoxious record store clerk. Then, Rock School‘s Dewey Finn, a failed wannabe rock star and fake-substitute teacher, cemented Black’s on-screen persona as an overzealous kid-of-a-man with a flair for the wildly theatrical. But even in his heyday, Black was never particularly picky about the projects he’d put his name on. Rock School It is among the poorly received films such as Shallow State, Nacho Ozgur, Holiday, Year OneAnd Gulliver’s Travels Black’s earlier work. Over the years, he devoted his time to increasingly kid-friendly studio adaptations – I got goosebumpsJumanji remakes, Super Mario Brothers Movie and a handful Kung Fu Panda It’s not like the sequels. Border areas And Minecraft Rather than being a natural continuation of the brand, it is a kind of cheapening.
That’s a shame, in part because Black has long been a seamless, affable antithesis to Hollywood’s usual celebrity mold. You don’t see many celebrities dedicating hours to cutesy, gross-out video game content, as Black did for years on his now-dormant YouTube channel JablinskiGames. (To some extent, his fondness for terrible video game movies can be attributed to a genuine love of the source material.) He’s also one of the rare major actors who, for his part, escapes Hollywood’s body-size mold, taking roles that rarely make a point or joke about his appearance.
But mostly it’s a shame, because somewhere in Black’s cartoonish excess lies an actor of genuine and delicate talent. In Richard Linklater’s 2011 true-crime drama-comedy BernieWe got a glimpse of the career Black might have pursued in another reality: his performance as a washed-up out-of-town con artist who befriends and murders grumpy veteran Shirley MacLaine was masterful and uncommonly transformative. He tried to stretch his wings elsewhere — in Peter Jackson’s King KongRichard Linklater’s nuanced voice role Apollo 10½: Space Age Childhood – However Bernie It’s the strongest evidence of just how much Black has to offer. But that was more than a decade ago. More recently, Black’s name has only been used to describe him as a flashy Border areas a banner or a photo of Lizzo standing next to it Mandalorian – A pathetic cameo that many consider the heartbreaking low point of the Star Wars spin-off.
The bright side for Black is that he’s not finished yet. In Hollywood, you’re just one return to the lap of public affection away. He has the ability to bounce back, and despite the backlash on social media, there’s still a fair amount of public goodwill to mine. But for now, it’s clear that something needs to change — or the phrase “a Jack Black movie” could become cinema’s scariest warning sign.
‘A Minecraft Movie’ will hit theaters next year