Missing Hollywood's Macho Moustaches
By now you've probably seen the Youth in Revolt trailer that Erik shared last week. In his post, he was noting how "Nick Twisp (and his various amounts of shtick) is a good ten steps out of [Michael] Cera's comfort zone -- so it's nice to see him taking that leap." Me, I was too focused on that moustache. Did anyone else immediately get transported to that scene from Almost Famous? The one where young William is in the boys' bathroom, plagued by his youth while the other boys revel in their puberty? No doubt, that little whisp of Twisp's upper-lip hair was placed on Cera to present a ridiculous looking young "French" alter-ego. However, as much as I'm interested in seeing the film, I wonder if I'll be able to stare at anything but that lip fluff. It might just be more distracting than Gary Oldman's screaming face posters in Prisoner of Azkaban.
Today moustaches are so maligned. Perhaps the old lip hair of Burt Reynolds and Tom Selleck were too iconic, and nothing now will suffice. Maybe no strip can compare to John Waters' paper-thin line of hair. Or maybe it's just how ridiculous fake moustaches look. I can't really knock Robert Pattinson's silly Dali 'stache because it's pretty much a given that NO ONE else could pull off that look with any seriousness. But what about the rest? Kevin James' Mall Cop? Jude Law's Sherlock Holmes? The moustache used to be an indication of manliness, but now it's nothing more than a cosmetic flair of false masculinity and silliness.
There are exceptions -- Josh Brolin immediately comes to mind -- but for the most part, mustachioed men parade around on the big screen to bring us laughs. Yet ... traveling back to the days when moustaches meant manliness ... which lip hair reigned supreme?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-24-2009 @ 3:54PM
David said...
The difference between 1970s Elliott Gould with a moustache and Elliott Gould without a moustache was always striking to me. With moustache: hip, anarchic, in control ("M*A*S*H," "Getting Straight"). No moustache: weak, nebbish, put-upon ""Bob&Carol&Ted&Alice," "Move," "The Long Goodbye"). Burt Reynolds to a lesser extent -- certainly not "nebbishy," but the moustachioed version always seemed stronger to me.
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8-24-2009 @ 5:02PM
sheryl said...
Well now, I find it hard to even take you seriously. Am I meant to? Because, what does "mustache appeal" have to do with an actor portraying a character from a time period where mustaches, and even certain types of mustaches, were sported? Or portraying actual persons who wore mustaches, even wild and crazy handlebars? A lover of cinema you can't possibly be if a period mustache throws you into a fit of giggles, and your admission totally nullifies your believability as a rational, mature commentator of such. Just sayin'. Separate present reality from fiction/history.
I'm baffled that a person blogging on a site called "Cinematical" blurs reality with cinematic portrayals of characters like this and finds such characterization "funny". Does Daniel Day Lewis wear his Gangs of New York facewear in real life? No. So then, what? Does Jude Law go about real life in his Watson mustache? Okay, no. (side note, I think it's a pretty fine mustache). Actually, I can't take your opinion seriously.
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