Monday, May 31, 2010

YOU CAN STOP HELPING NOW, JEFF: There is much odd about Prince of Persia: The Sands Of Time--Jake Gyllenhaal's variable accent, the apparent repeated direction of Gemma Arterton to be stiffer and more mannered, the idea that we're going to believe for one minute that Ben Kingsley's character isn't the bad guy, what's up with Alfred Molina's teeth, and the fact that the final ten minutes of the film turns into a political ramble. But that's not what I want to talk about--I want to talk about an issue posed by one piece of casting--that of Richard Coyle as one of the Princes of Persia. Coyle isn't that well-known on these shores, but for those who've seen Coupling, he is and will always be Jeff Murdock. Jeff, who's Barney Stinson's unsuccessful peer, has theories to explain everything--introducing us to the Giggle Loop, the Melty Man, and the Sock Gap (note, clips 2 and 3 are questionably SFW--no nudity or profanity, but frank sexual talk). Even when he's attempting to be all bold and soldiery, I still hear Jeff. For instance, at point, his character shouts "no man can stop us!" (or something similar). My immediate response was, naturally, "what about the Melty Man?"

The question I have is are there similar actors in the U.S. who are so identified with a single role that we can't see them elsewhere without that coming to mind? The closest I can think of is David Schwimmer, who, in his brief appearance in Band of Brothers, far removed in time and place from Friends, never manages to be anything other than Ross Geller (oddly, not all the Friends fell victim to this--Matthew Perry and Lisa Kudrow in particular have shown decent range).

21 comments:

  1. Also, to explain the tagline--the climax of "Inferno."  (Also likely NSFW.)  And oddly, Jack Davenport doesn't really suffer from the same issue.

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  2. I cannot see Curtis Armstrong in anything without calling out "BOOGER!"  It was especially jarring during Akeelah and the Bee.

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  3. Adam C.4:59 PM

    If you're of a certain age, you can imagine what EVERYONE in the audience shouted at the screen when Fred Gwynne showed up in Pet Sematary.  I did not notice it nearly as much with My Cousin Vinny, though.

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  4. B.J. Novak in Inglourious Basterds, definitely.

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  5. John Krasinski in DREAMGIRLS, for that matter.

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  6. J. Bowman6:34 PM

    Don't mention his name or he will appear!

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  7. DonBoy7:19 PM

    Ed O'Neill.

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  8. Travis7:54 PM

    I immediately think Miles from Risky Business.

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  9. J. Bowman9:03 PM

    Yes and no. I couldn't get past the notion that Steve Taylor was a Commodore in the Royal Navy. On the other hand, in Swingtown and FlashForward, it wasn't until shortly after the episodes when it suddenly hit me where I knew him from.

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  10. calliekl9:14 PM

    I feel like this could be Jorge Garcia's fate, although only time will tell.

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  11. Heather K9:48 PM

    My fiancee (and this is going to be way too much TMI) seems to be overly fond of never removing his socks, and I quote Jeff endlessly to him as a result.  Someday he will watch Coupling and get it.

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  12. Joseph J. Finn9:52 AM

    Far worse in Band of Brothers, in terms of taking you out of the moment, was the Jimmy Fallon appearance.  Schwimmer, I thought weas pretty good in that part.

    (Coincidentally, me and the GF were watching Midsomer Mysteries a few weeks ago, adn I spent half the episode thinking one of the victims was being played by a young Billie Piper when in fact it was Susan from Coupling.)

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  13. lisased10:30 AM

    Early on in "The Abyss", there's an important expository scene with members of the rescue team discussing strategy. The camera pans around the room and passes over Chris Elliott, and everyone in the theater laughed.

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  14. isaac_spaceman10:43 AM

    I understand the parallel you're drawing, but I think of Patrick more as the Barney Stinson of Coupling.  Jeff was more of the pet loser, the outsider to the romantic triangulations of the others. 

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  15. Patrick is more of the charming cad side of Barney, but Barney's various theories (the crazy/hot line, the tournament of exes, the relationship highway) are pure Jeff Murdock.  (And HIMYM owes a lot to Coupling overall, with the frequent use of non-linear structure and unreliable narrators.)

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  16. Genevieve11:02 AM

    Ooh, there is rather a resemblance, isn't there?  Now I'm going to rewatch Coupling expecting the TARDIS to whisk Susan off.

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  17. Joseph J. Finn11:16 AM

    They're not even close in age, either, Sarah Alexander has 12 years on Piper.

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  18. Joseph J. Finn11:44 AM

    Oddly, I go for Moonlighting, then Better off Dead, then Booger.

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  19. isaac_spaceman1:46 PM

    Yeah, I get the parallel, but I don't think it's quite right.  Jeff's theories were usually a bit crazy and often were the product of overthinking everything.  They inevitably led to disaster.  Barney's theories seem to be pure observations from experience, usually employed successfully.  And the theories for Barney really are just window dressing.  At the id level, he and Patrick are of a type.  Though I wonder whether they'd ever give Barney a hardman haircut. 

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  20. Genevieve1:29 PM

    Yeah, but, yanno, time travel.  So she could be Rose later on.

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  21. Bobsyeruncle3:26 AM

    It's not out yet, but Will Arnett playing a non-comedic character in JONAH HEX.  It's insane. 

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