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Owen Gleiberman answers your movie questions | 155325__porkys_l
SELF-ABUSE ''Porky's'' made $111 million -- and made Gleiberman cringe
Porky's: Everett Collection
By Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman is a film critic for EW

Doesn't passing judgment on the actor as a personality bias a review? -- Abby
Actually, one of the beauties of movies is that when you watch an actor, you're seeing his or her personality shine right through the performance. Marlon Brando's hooded sensuality and anger are there in role after role. More recently, I think of Johnny Depp's Zen sweetness, Julianne Moore's clandestine melancholy, or Colin Farrell's cheerful screw-it-all bluster. To pass judgment on actors' personalities is to be in full thrall to their art.

What is the worst hugely successful film ever made? -- Eric
That's not a question -- it's a challenge. In our era, too many movies of egregious awfulness have become megahits. I'm thinking of ''Lara Croft: Tomb Raider,'' ''Armageddon,'' or ''The Bodyguard.'' To be honest, I was sorely tempted to pick ''Vanilla Sky.'' In the end, though, I'd have to go back to ''Porky's,'' the witless 1981 ''Animal House'' knockoff that showed a generation, to the tune of $111 million, that masturbation could be entertainment.


Posted Jun 27, 2003 | Published in issue #716-717 Jun 27, 2003 | Order Article Reprints