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We're not trying to say that managing an acting career is easy. And we imagine it's especially not easy when you're a really large black guy.
Sure, it's easy enough at first, when you're cast in roles like "Gang Lookout" on JAG or "Z-Boy" in the movie Trippin'. You take those roles, and you are happy. Easy.
And, if you're a really large black guy who can also be funny, you might then progress to appearances on black-targeted sitcoms like Malcolm & Eddie, or even a showcase role in a Farrelly brothers movie such as, say, "Jamaal Baileygates" in, say, Me, Myself & Irene.
Even so, you can't blame us for dismissing Anthony Anderson.
When did we dismiss him? Hard to say, though we imagine it coincided with the 2003 release of Kangaroo Jack. At that time, Anderson seemed to be using his bulk and wit to alternate between playing heavies in gangstasploitation films like Romeo Must Die and Exit Wounds and playing funny fat guys in unfunny comedies like Big Momma's House and Scary Movie 3. Successful, sure, but not exactly eye-catching.
So when did we de-dismiss, or re-smiss, Anthony Anderson? About ten minutes into his first episode as Antwon Mitchell on The Shield.
Because guess what? Anthony Anderson is a really good actor. No, seriously, it's true! Not just charismatic (which he is), not just oozing screen presence (which he does), but actually good at acting, which, we now admit, is something we may have picked up on if we'd ever bothered to see him in Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London. Though probably not.
But Anthony Anderson, on The Shield, was kicking ass. He kicked ass on the street. They sent him to prison and he kicked ass in prison. We only hope he returns next season in some form, so they can fry his evil character in the electric chair, because if they do, he'll be kick ass in Heaven, Hell, and all territories in between.
Furthermore, we're actually excited to see him in the upcoming The Departed. We're actually more excited to see him than to see Leo DiCaprio, Mark Wahlberg, or even Jack Nicholson. (Maybe on par with Matt Damon.)
If you'd told us, some years back, that we'd feel this way about a cast member of Kangaroo Jack, we would have said, "Really? Estella Warren gets that much better?"
Then we would have laughed and laughed, though of course some of that laughter would have caused by the fact that the the kangaroo had the loot! Stop that kangaroo!
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