Kenny Parrella

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.