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Last month, when Anthony Minghella inflicted The Talented Mr. Ripley upon the North American movie-going public, that same public reacted by asking, as if with a single voice, several pertinent questions. "How did Gwyneth Paltrow ever win that Oscar™?" "Damn, Matt Damon really can't act for shit, can he?" "How much would it cost for me to go live in Italy for a while?" "Who was that really good-looking guy who played Dickie?"
That really good-looking guy, as you may know by now, is British actor Jude Law, and even if he never works again, his reputation -- as the beautiful and charismatic magnet drawing the audience's attention away from the comparatively bland and toothy presence of the aforementioned Damon -- is secure. Where Damon's performance is soaked with the shambling flop sweat generated by the straining effort he puts into it, Law's Dickie (hee hee..."Law's Dickie"!) is as effortless and refreshing as the cool breeze one imagines blowing off the sea. In order for the movie to be compelling, Dickie had to be the original golden boy, and so he is; as soon as his character departs from the screen, the film darkens. I didn't especially like The Talented Mr. Ripley, but I will admit that Dickie is the role Jude Law was born to play.
Though he started his career acting in various TV series in his native Britain, Law's forays into American film have largely required him to liven up otherwise unremarkable productions -- Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, I'm looking in your direction. Thankfully, he's balanced his sexy-cad roles in big-budget Hollywood movies with sexy-cad roles in more interesting indie movies like Wilde and eXistenZ, and also acts on the London stage (where my friend Shanda saw him perform, as she'll be happy to tell you in exhaustive detail).
Why isn't Jude Law part of the big-name Gen-X ensemble cast of Boiler Room (a.k.a. Glengarry Glen Jr.)? Presumably because he has more discriminating taste than the likes of Ben Affleck and Vin Diesel. For now, Fametracker is pleased that Law chooses interesting roles in highbrow flops like Gattaca instead of quality-free zones like Rounders, but we'd really like to see Law in a leading role in which his considerable charisma and talent are put to some use other than embodying the sexy cad.
On the other hand, every time we get to see his sweet, sweet ass, we're satisfied.
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