The Bottom Line: ‘Wild’ Travolta Shows Plenty of Fight

“I’m the Ali of actors!”

No longer in as Perfect shape as he was once, John Travolta probably can’t sting like a bee or float like butterfly today as The Greatest did in his prime. But there’s no doubt that the man who caused a generation of women to suffer from Saturday Night Fever has enjoyed more comebacks than the former Cassius Clay.

“The right material at the right time is all that it takes,” Travolta tells The Bottom Line. “You’re always only one movie away from regaining your title. It’s whether that opportunity comes.”

For Travolta—next seen in the biker buddy comedy Wild Hogs (March 3), the 1940s-era art-house thriller Lonely Hearts (April 13) and the musical Hairspray (July 27)—that opportunity always seems to come in the form of a Look Who’s Talking or Pulp Fiction.

At 53, Travolta’s only really had one period in his career when he’s enjoyed one hit after another. That came when Quentin Tarantino spared him a lifetime of Look Who’s Talking sequels by making him oh so very cool—and bankable—again with Pulp Fiction. Tarantino’s narrative-defying crime caper led to Get Shorty, Broken Arrow, Phenomenon, Michael and Face/Off.

Things aren’t quite as bad today as it was in the mid-1980s, when Perfect and Two of a Kind wrecked everything Travolta achieved with the pop-culture phenomenons Grease, Saturday Night Fever and Urban Cowboy. While he’s not in need of another Pulp Fiction, Travolta has had more lows than highs since 2000’s vanity project Battlefield Earth made him a laughing stock and a Razzie Award winner. He enjoyed modest hits with Ladder 49 and Swordfish, but he also endured the disappointments Be Cool, Domestic Disturbance and The Punisher, and experienced the outright failures of Basic, A Love Song for Bobby Long and Lucky Numbers. With the exception of Bobby Long, you can’t help but question whether Travolta follows his own advice and accept a role based on the “quality” of the story and character he would play. (If this was the case, he would have accepted the roles eventually taken by Richard Gere in American Gigolo, An Officer and a Gentleman and Chicago.)

Wild Hogs—which features Travolta, Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence and William H. Macy getting in touch with their inner easy rider—isn’t any better than the stale Be Cool. But unlike Be Cool, Wild Hogs doesn’t collapse under the weight of its ensemble cast. And the quartet makes this an amusing—though immediately forgettable—road trip.

“I like a team of funny people together,” Travolta says. “Makes me happy.” 

Wild Hogs could make Travolta happier if it connects—which it likely will—with baby boomers who long to relive their misspent youth.

Done right, though, the musical version of John Waters’ cult classic Hairspray—with Travolta in drag as the matronly Edna Turnblad—could be the runaway smash to put Travolta back on top. Put a man in a fat suit and stick him in dress and the result is an instant blockbuster. Just ask Martin Lawrence.

Recent musicals have soared or fallen on the strength of their casts. Rent and The Producers flopped after sticking with their original Broadway stars. Chicago and Dreamgirls succeeded thanks to their A-list talent, which bodes well for the star-driven Hairspray. 

Hairspray may also rectify the “mistake” Travolta acknowledges making for handing Chicago to Richard Gere. Travolta passed on Chicago because he didn’t talk with director Rob Marshall about his concerns with how the script portrayed the women as man-hating killers.

“I didn’t know they were resolving all those kinds of problems that I had with it,” a regretful Travolta explains.

Speaking of problems, how that’s film version of Dallas coming along? It’s a lose-lose situation if Travolta stars as J.R. Ewing. No one bought his Southern accent as Primary Color’s Clinton-esque governor. And even if he nails the Texas drawl, Travolta won’t make us forget Larry Hagman. Travolta doesn’t need another potential Battlefield Earth on his hands, so the accomplished pilot should fuel his plane and fly as far from Dallas from possible.

Also, Travolta should forget a Wild Hogs sequel. So what if he had “fun” he with his fellow weekend warriors? He would be better served seeking out the next Pulp Fiction as a preemptive measure in the event Hairspray fails and leads to another long-lasting slump.

The Bottom Line
“If I’m replaceable, then maybe I shouldn’t be doing it,” Travolta says. By that very definition, Travolta should have walked away from just about everything he’s done since The General’s Daughter. Wild Hogs is no exception, but at least Travolta’s game for a laugh. Hairspray’s another matter. Seeing Travolta in his first true musical since Grease is too tantalizing a prospect. So Hairspray could be the Chicago-sized victory Travolta needed after Battlefield Earth and still needs today.