Jonah Hex comes out on Friday, and people are spending their time asking the wrong questions, like “Why are Will Arnett and Wes Bentley in it?” and “Ugh…Why, Josh Brolin…WHY?!” But those are the wrong questions to be asking about this movie. What we should be asking is: What’s the deal with Megan Fox?
Technically speaking, Megan Fox is fairly new to the Hollywood scene. Her first major role was Transformers in 2007, but before that, the most special thing she did was appear alongside Lindsay Lohan in Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen. Transformers did well and grossed $319 million domestically, even though her performance as “the grease-monkey bombshell” was deemed “less human and believable than the Transformers” by Manohla Dargis of The New York Times. If the trailer for the movie hadn’t already made it obvious to Transformers fans that Fox’s main duty was to embrace her sex appeal, the critics did a fine job of pointing out that her involvement in the film was supported by her stellar body and cascading hair. But from a theatrical point of view, neither was enough to make her watchable or enjoyable as an actress.
Despite a rough start, she continued to make the trek into the Hollywood world and was cast in Jennifer’s Body. Unlike Transformers, Jennifer’s Body was totally rancid and opened to a meager $6.9 million. And yet, critics shot the occasional affirmations her way: A.O. Scott tried to compliment Fox by calling her “an unholy mess” and argued that her “blunt, blank, affect belonged to the character, not the performer” (clearly he watched a different movie than the rest of us), while Ryan Stewart of Slant magazine also suggested she skillfully embodied such an unlikeable character, saying, “Megan Fox…while successfully conveying the key point that Jennifer, though the babe of all babes, is alone,” and that Jennifer was “emotionally empty and reliant on her perfect looks for social currency.” Now I give you permission to lock me up in an igloo with nothing but one rooster if this is an outrageous thought… but how come neither reviewer considered the reason why Megan Fox was so good at playing an aloof and vapid character wasn’t because she’s an actress but rather because that’s how she is in real life?
It’s common for actors to have their niche, but usually they come across well in roles that showcase their specific skills. Under that theory, Megan Fox is quite capable of playing highly sexualized roles. But how can the same blatant sex appeal be enough in an industry that supposedly goes out of its way to reward truly stellar performances? The question remains: Why is she still around? And the answer I keep coming back to is that Megan Fox is just a conundrum.
If she had a redeeming quality to go in conjunction with her astonishing good looks, I’d understand and believe that she’d have a real chance at becoming a true, longstanding A-lister. But she often comes across as sarcastic, obnoxious and generally quite abrasive in her interviews. So that’s out. And her acting itself, most of the time, has the pizzazz of a plain bagel. So she’s not a good actress and she has a less-than-impressive attitude. And yet, there she is.
Granted, a large reason why we keep hearing about her is because she keeps getting cast, and that’s because of the audience she guarantees. Very few actresses these days are as fun or amusing to just stare at. She’s considered an A-lister from the visual beauty alone that she’ll bring to a film. Additionally, what makes her desirable (despite her non-acting) is intrigue. It’s possible that people keep giving her roles to see if her acting will ever catch up with her appearance. Some might argue that’s what happened with Angelina Jolie. In that sense, maybe casting directors are willing to give Fox several chances to gain an acting education on a set, in exchange for the possibility of guaranteeing an audience, who’ll see the movie just to watch her check a car’s engine in a pair of shorts. It’s an easy trade-off to understand.
But…is it possible that Megan Fox is already on her way out? She was fired from Transformers 3, though her rep claimed it was her decision not to take part in the next installment (I bet my roommate’s cat that Hitler comment about Michael Bay had something to do with it). However, it’s important to remember that she got her big break with Transformers, and even the possibility of Michael Bay changing his mind about the starlet — whose career he essentially created — indicates that Hollywood might be growing tired of her. So do we want to go back to a Foxless world? Or have our eyes already seen too much and we now depend on her? I refuse to make any kind of prediction as to how well Jonah Hex will do at the box office, but I will say this: Sooner or later, we’ll grow tired of her act unless she changes it.
