NY Observer > George Clooney

New York Still Loves You, Ben

Jake Brooks — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 14:03:35 -0400

The Heartbreak Kid managed to grab the top spot here in Manhattan, despite being outgrossed nationally by the Rock’s The Game Plan in its second week. read more »

Objection Sustained! Clooney Clomps Through Colorless Corporate-Law Flick

Rex Reed — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 14:05:37 -0400

He’s suave, sure—but utterly wasted in this chunk of Hollywood hokum. read more »

Soderbergh’s Soggy Casino Caper Could Use a Few More Dames

Andrew Sarris — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 14:08:11 -0400

Clooney is skinny and Pitt is pulchritudinous! But they bring too much man-love to the unnecessary Ocean’s three-quel. read more »

Cate vs. Judi; Ed and Naomi

Rex Reed — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 19:00:00 -0500

Let the countdown begin. read more »

Bono's African Hunger Tour on NBC

Observer Staff — Mon, 22 May 2006 20:11:37 -0400

We're pathetic. Brian Williams is in Africa for NBC Nightly News to report on the AIDS crisis and the focus of his piece is Bono of U2, his visit. What a great man he is, what an investment he's made in Africa. Act I. Bono in his black shirt and rockstar spectacles, thumbwrestling with an African child. Act II. Williams and British Treasury Minister Gordon Brown—whom Williams touts as the likely successor to Tony Blair—are standing around being lectured by the pierced and piercing Bono on the appeal of Islamic fundamentalism for starving Africans. Act III. Bono's black shirt now sweated through, he collapses on the plane, with just, Williams informs, three hours sleep.

This isn't about Bono. He's a good guy. More power to him. It's about Americans. Can we care about anything without a celebrity attached? Global Warming, brought to you by Al Gore. Literature, sponsored by Oprah. African Hunger, presented by Bono. And now George Clooney brings us—genocide.

My Wife's Hairdresser Turns the Tables on George Clooney

Observer Staff — Tue, 09 May 2006 21:30:57 -0400

When last I visited the subject, my wife had dismissed my criticisms of George Clooney's political movies, saying I was being mean-spirited. Then fate rallied to my cause. My wife went to the hairdresser and told him about her soft spot for Clooney—and he took my side, and changed her mind. You might say that he did a number on her head inside and out. She was good enough to tell me about it, and I called Kenny Parrella.

"He's like a non-person. If you took away the actor, what's left? He's just that character all the time. A goodlooking guy. George Clooney is always playing George Clooney. He's going to learn the lines, but it's the same character."

"Did you ever find him appealing?"

"Yes. I started off liking him, but I learned not to. All the way back to The Facts of Life [on television]. He's goodlooking, he's got that grin. It's the same guy."

"Aren't a lot of actors that way?"

"Not the good ones. Compare him to Jack Nicholson. The guy has a lot of other stuff going on under the performance, and he is able to draw on that as an actor. Jude Law. He's a person. He's very goodlooking but his characters from one movie to another are different. Watch 'Closer.' Or 'I Heart Huckabees.' He can play pathetic, and well. I don't think George Clooney can go there."

"What about the great work he has done on Darfur?"

"You caught me. I don't know about that."

Thank youuuu Kenny. For the record: George Clooney has shown tremendous initiative in visiting the Sudan and urging active American intervention to end the genocide and starvation. Bravo.

The Smarmies of the Night

Chris Lehmann — Sun, 07 May 2006 20:00:00 -0400

Stephen Colbert was asked, just after the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Ap read more »

Don't Fight With Your Wife About George Clooney

Observer Staff — Thu, 04 May 2006 15:11:31 -0400

In retrospect I think that I failed to understand a couple weeks back when my wife said that George Clooney was her type. My wife is good on personalities, and we were talking about actors so I started testing her on types. Spencer Tracy. "Short, angry, pugnacious." Humphrey Bogart. "Wounded. Secretive." Steve Martin. "Ironic, overly sensitive. He would be closest to you." De Niro. "Unfortunately he's become a bloviator."

George Clooney. "He's my type."

Then this week we watched two George Clooney movies. First Syriana, about which I blogged below. I think its ideas are appalling in their simplicity and uselessness. Of course my wife loved it.

Two nights ago we watched Good Night and Good Luck. I could just see my wife loving it. After it was over, she said, "It wasn't slick. It was naive in a good way. It got people to care about something they would never care about usually. George Clooney has got all this power in Hollywood now and he's using it for good things."

I really disliked the movie. It was naive and heroic about corporate life. Its manner was pedestrian and earnest. I said to her, "Why is Murrow such a hero? He isn't. The guy was mainstream, and yes a force for good generally. But when he went after Joe McCarthy it was 1954, and McCarthy was already a laughingstock. The only good thing about the movie is they didn't cast McCarthy, they used real footage. He looks like Satan and he's crazy. Other people had already taken the big risks before Murrow."

My wife got upset. She said, "You're like that gospel according to Judas but the other way: You are taking something that's good and heroic and spinning it to be bad and obvious."

I went to two encyclopedias to prove my point. They were inconclusive.

While I am sure I'm right, I don't know that I can win this fight. This morning I heard my wife talking about me on the phone: "He doesn't understand, every woman is in love with George Clooney." Later, I had to drive with her somewhere. I said, "O.K. In two words, What is George Clooney's type?"

"Not you."

I had to wheedle a while before she came out with: "Low key, cool, straightforward and handsome. And a little bit simple."

I'm counting that last adjective as a victory.

Syriana: Why It's Good, Why It's Awful

Observer Staff — Sat, 29 Apr 2006 12:49:50 -0400

I saw the movie Syriana last night. Here are four good things about it: It is a serious effort to examine the roots of the clash between the west and the Middle East. Director Stephen Gaghan did a fine job of research and then translating that research into a dramatic story, showing that the American need for oil has helped to prop up Arab dictatorships. George Clooney is a superb actor in a moral manner. Arab men and boys were portrayed as normal, humorous, profane people.

Now here's what is wrong with it. Gaghan has completely imbibed a modish leftwing materialist take on the Arab world. Everyone on the liberal side says it; he says it, too: These Arab dictatorships were created by western imperial demands, notably the desire to keep oil flowing. Their oil-based hierarchies deny opportunities to their young people for freedom and employment. That's what is fueling terrorism. read more »

Don't Look for George Clooney in the Flatiron

Observer Staff — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 11:46:23 -0500

Lovin' on the fans!

In case you're hoping to win Gawker's contest to get a cameraphone picture of George Clooney out in the city today, we can save you some trouble:

When we reported earlier this week that City Bakery on West 18th Street would be closed for the filming of a movie, we narrowed down the possibilities to two: Music and Lyrics By (starring Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant) and Michael Clayton (with star and producer George Clooney).

But signs posted on the partially-closed block confirm: it's not George. It's Hugh and Drew. - Tom McGeveran