The Best and Worst of Billy Crudup

“The Best and Worst of” series chronicles the career highlights and lowlights of an actor starring in one of the week's new theatrical releases. This week, I take a look at the filmography of “Where'd You Go Bernadette” star Billy Crudup.

Films starring Billy Crudup that I've seen:
Almost Famous
Big Fish
Mission: Impossible III
Watchmen
Public Enemies
The Watch
The Stanford Prison Experiment
Spotlight
Jackie
20th Century Women
Alien: Covenant 
Justice League

Best Performance: Almost Famous (2000)
A huge part of why Almost Famous works so well as both a coming-of-age story and a depiction of the glory days of rock music is the effortless authenticity that its actors brought to their parts. Outside of Kate Hudson's flawless turn as radiant groupie Penny Lane, Crudup's performance is the most impressive of the bunch. As guitarist Russell Hammond, the leader of the fictional band Stillwater that the protagonist (Patrick Fugit) is assigned to cover for a Rolling Stone feature, Crudup disappears into the character of a charismatic yet egomaniacal musician whose complete disregard for the feelings of the people that care about him puts the status of his band's burgeoning career in jeopardy.     

Worst Performance: Watchmen (2009)
Watchmen falls into a very weird category that almost no other movie I've ever seen falls into. While there are plenty of elements of Zack Snyder's adaptation of the beloved graphic novel that left me awe-stricken (its unrelentingly dark tone, the action sequences, the alternate history timeline that drives its plot), there were several others (its sometimes very convoluted plot, the Nite Owl/Silk Spectre romance, every scene with Matthew Goode in it) that I outright hated. These insanely mixed feelings carried over to the acting as I felt every performance was either amazing (Jackie Earl Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan) or abysmal (Goode, Malin Akerman). Crudup fell into the latter category. Despite being a glowing blue beacon of radiation that you could see from anywhere in the galaxy, Crudup manages to make Dr. Manhattan a borderline invisible presence thanks to a tremendously awkward, stiff performance that couldn't possibly be less compelling.
    

Best Film: Almost Famous (2000)
Cameron Crowe is at his finest when he's telling heartfelt human stories, so it's probably not a coincidence that his finest work was based on his own experiences as a writer for Rolling Stone that embarked on tours with a number of iconic bands including Led Zeppelin, The Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynrd as a teenager in the 70's. Almost Famous is a fascinating, poignant portrait of the rebel spirit of rock n'roll and how the freewheeling lifestyle that comes with being on the road constantly can prepare someone for the unpredictable ups-and-downs that life has to offer.

Worst Film: Alien: Covenant (2017)
Alien has never been a series that I have a strong affinity for. Don't get me wrong: They're solid sci-fi horror movies with an iconic race of villains at the center of them, I've just always preferred the claustrophobic tension and self-aware goofiness of the Predator franchise. Even as a not overly big fan of the brand, I really wish Ridley Scott had just left it alone. Alien: Covenant takes a deeper dive into the origins of the Xenomorphs and boy oh boy does that prove to be a colossal mistake. The deeper Scott and screenwriter John Logan dive into the mythology of these once mysterious creatures, the more frustratingly absurd the proceedings get. Not to mention, this is boring as all hell whenever Michael Fassbender isn't on screen. Hopefully the financial problems that have already occurred during the first few months of the Fox/Disney merger will kill Scott's plan to make a prequel trilogy. 

Thank you for reading this week's edition of “The Best and Worst of”. The next victim of my praise and ire will be “Angel Has Fallen” star Nick Nolte.