This is hilarious.
I don’t think much of the Spirit Awards, but they did something right for once: they iced out a movie highly touted by bloggers which I didn’t like at all.
The movie is “The Whale” and the star is Brendan Fraser. For some reason, bloggers on Twitter who cover Hollywood just went nuts over this movie. They loved it, and they started promoting Fraser as the next winner of the Oscars’ best actor.
I reviewed “The Whale” finally and found Fraser to be just fine, certainly his best work, although that’s not saying much since his older films were largely teen fare or “The Mummy.” But he is very moving in “The Whale” and deserves a nomination.
The movie, however, I thought was emotionally manipulative and wore itself out. Fraser’s 600 pound character is doomed from the start, so he has no story arc except downward. It was a bit much. (My inappropriate comment is that I’ve been skipping dessert ever since.)
Will the movie and Fraser be nominated for Oscars? Maybe. But the Spirit Awards voters or committees obviously didn’t like it. They just snubbed the whole thing. I’m surprised. I thought it was perfect for them. Very weighty. This is one time I agree with them. But I do think the Oscars will rescue Fraser and the screenplay, despite my not caring for it. In the end, the Academy will probably not even think about the Spirit Awards, which is just right.
