Justin Chambers vs. Chris O'Donnell
Battle of the Clean-Cut Pretty-Boys

Here at Fametracker, we have certainly left ourselves open to the accusation of being overly particular. For example, if an actor doesn't appear in a movie of note for a good, long while (Mira Sorvino), we're likely to suggest that the once-bright pulse of his or her notoriety is in danger of fading from Hollywood's radar. On the other hand, if an actor signs on for every movie that crosses his or her desk (John Travolta), we're apt to point out that he or she could stand to be a little more discriminating in their choices. Now, if an actor appears in a series of unwatchable flops (Claire Danes), we'll throw out the idea that he or she might benefit from better judgment. But if an actor stars in an unbroken string of great, well-crafted films -- well, we likely wouldn't have anything bad to say, though we haven't had many chances to test that theory.

We're not sure what Chris Eugene O'Donnell has been doing over the past four years, since he starred in Batman and Robin. Maybe he's decided to take a break and raise his new son, Chris Eugene O'Donnell Jr., with his high-school sweetheart, whom he married a few years back. Maybe he's simply decided that making one movie a year (Cookie's Fortune, The Bachelor, Vertical Limit) is just about the right pace, and that $2 million per picture -- or whatever it is he's pulling down these days -- is a perfectly adequate yearly stipend. Maybe he's become fascinated by Noh theater, the 14th-century Japanese art of the mask, and is currently touring the far East reinterpreting such classics of the form as Iwafune, Kumasaka, and Ukai.

Whatever the answer, we do know this: back here, Chris O'Donnell may be in some trouble. Since the early '90s -- or at least since Ethan Hawke grew that beard and stopped washing his hair -- Chris O'Donnell has had the clean-cut pretty-boy niche pretty much all to himself. He's good-looking, but in a safe, parentally approved way: the Anti-Johnny Depp. Or, more specifically, he exists at the exact nexus of Your Ideal Prom Date and Your Mother's Ideal Prom Date.

But no matter how snugly you fit in your particular niche, one thing is for certain: if you dally too long out of the public eye, there's a very good chance that another hungry young pup who looks exactly like you will appear on the scene, ready to dislodge you from that niche like a rascally younger brother elbowing you out of a shared twin bed. So it is with O'Donnell. While the rest of the nation was watching trailers for The Musketeer and thinking, "Hey, is that Chris O'Donnell?," Chris O'Donnell (assuming he wasn't at Noh rehearsal) was probably sitting there thinking, "Hey, is that me?" and "Didn't I make this movie?"

No, he didn't; well, not this exact one, anyway. The Musketeer stars clean-cut pretty-boy Justin Chambers as D'Artagnan. The Three Musketeers, made in 1993, starred O'Donnell as D'Artagnan. Which seems to us a cruel bit of casting; after all, it's one thing to have to see a younger doppelganger playing a part that's patently meant for you, but it's quite another to see a younger doppelganger playing a part you've already played, in a movie you've already made. Though if you think that's bad, just imagine how weird it will be for O'Donnell to see Justin Chambers playing Robin alongside Johnny Knoxville's Batman in the next film in that series, Batman In Perpetuity.

Advantage: Chambers, since he's the one who wasn't in The Bachelor.