The Brendan Fraser Corollary

So, the other day I had to record the movie "Bedazzled" for work. I didn't sit down and watch it or anything, and I had the sound turned off, but I glanced over every once in a while, and a thought began to occur to me. It struck me that Brendan Fraser may not actually be the worst actor in the world.

Now, don't get me wrong--"Bedazzled" wasn't screaming for an Oscar nomination on any level. But Fraser clearly displayed some level of flexibility and versatility within the (very limited) allowed acting constructs of the film. Too, one might recall his performance in "The Quiet American" alongside Michael Caine, which was highly praised. I have to admit, I despise the majority of Graham Greene's works, on whose novel the movie was based (with the exception of some of his earlier writings--and even those I have points of contention with in places), and having to watch a seemingly endless movie formed from the progressively communist propaganda that leaked into Graham's works was too much for me to handle (even if Graham's politics were not wholly represented in the adaptation). That is to say, I didn't make it through the entire movie. To be honest, though, it was mostly boredom that held me back in that regard. I am all for the long, internal character-developing movie, don't get me wrong. I was just not in the space to endure that particular film at the occurrence which gave me opportunity to watch it.

I do remember the first movie I watched entirely with Fraser. Well, it's possible that dubious honor belongs to "Encino Man" from a time when HBO or some such station showed it multiple times a day for weeks on end. But, while I imbibed the entirety of "Encino Man" over the course of time, I can't honestly say I ever sat down and watched it reel to reel. Perhaps I did, but I cannot say with certitude. The first movie I know I watched all the way through was "The Mummy Returns."

First of all, I can't tell you how utterly embarrassed I was to have to walk up to the ticket counter and say, "Two tickets for 'The Mummy Returns.'" I wasn't just going to see a mummy...no, no--I was going to see him return!! It was a bit like ordering a dish in a foreign restaurant where you emphatically know you are pronouncing the name of the dish incorrectly. If my situation had left me with recourse to see anything else, anything at all, I would have done so simply to avoid having that ridiculous sentence escape my lips.

But escape it did, and after seeing Fraser in previews for countless gems such as "Blast from the Past," I was naturally very excited to see a master thespian tend to his craft. Despite his breakthrough performance in the inaugural movie of the illustrious "Mummy" franchise, which garnered him a nomination for an oh-so-coveted Saturn Award for Best Actor, this sequel performance (and the film in general) left much to be desired.

All the same, though, I have had a hard time strongly disliking Fraser. I can't quite place why that is. I do get the distinct impression, though, that he would be a good, normal actor if given proper opportunity. Sure, he looks a little goofy, and that is certainly a Hollywood handicap, but if Jim Carrey can be handed serious roles (which I feel were both well-deserved and well-played), then surely Fraser should be allowed to try his hand at a well-crafted screenplay.

So why is it that this has not been the case? The problem derives from a theory that was developed by a legal scholar in Arizona; a theory that he has labeled "The Brendan Fraser Corollary." The notion is that Fraser is consistently, and what I would label now as almost recklessly, cast as an outside player. That is to say, his character is always the odd-man-out in the group. This truth is quite obviously grasped in films like "Encino Man", "Blast from the Past", and "Bedazzled." Perhaps more subtly, movies such as "The Quiet American" and "Still Breathing" house the same notion of an outcast. Don't get me wrong--these movies are not juxtaposing Fraser as an in-depth, three-dimensional character with a surrounding of flat ones. These flicks set up the poor man as, on some level, a dysfunctional misfit (even if a three-dimensional misfit) amongst his peers.

A certain amount of blame must fall on Fraser, I admit. If you take the roles that he accepted in "George of the Jungle", "Dudley Do-Right", and "Monkeybone", you are just asking for a certain amount of professional punishment in the entertainment industry. But I seem to recall some other actors enduring some rather ignominious parts, yet being given opportunity to both star in a capacity of normalcy and to do so in a well-written screenplay. Such a combination has yet to reach Fraser's doorstep. Or perhaps such a role has been offered, and the Chazz Darvey in him has rejected the proposition. Either way, with Fraser's upcoming releases like "The Mummy 3" and "Big Bug Man" on deck, it looks like, for now, The Brendan Fraser Corollary lives on...