Young Hollywood gets on my nerves on an all-too-frequent basis. I don’t know, maybe I'm slightly envious of success that appears rather unmerited. I just find that the cult of celebrity has created a lot of overrated personalities, often with little talent or promise of career longevity. It's almost a surreal high school, an amplified popularity contest that pits the attractive vacant ones against the brilliant icons-in-training. And like high school, the popular ones often peak in senior year, while the quirky kid in the corner goes on to legitimate success.
That's not to say that everyone under 30 spells rehab-in-waiting. And some pretty people certainly have acting chops. I love Ryan Gosling, Lee Pace, Ellen Page, Natalie Portman and Emile Hirsch (all of whom seem to have both talent that deserves recognition and wise and intentional career choices that deserve praise in itself).
This summer, we've got a new star on the rise. Not completely new to our awesomeness radar, Amanda Seyfried, best known for her hilarious turn on Mean Girls, recurring role on Veronica Mars, and current gig on the HBO hit Big Love, is making her star turn as Sophie in Mamma Mia! With Meryl Streep, Colin Firth and Pierce Brosnan
as costars, the heavyweight cast keeps this 22-year-old from
teen-audience-driven flicks and demands that she be taken seriously. And I'm confident we'll be seeing plenty more of this in-demand talent in the coming years. Considering her roles thus far, I'm sure her choices will continue to be lauded by
critics and audiences alike. Or at least by me.
I don’t know about you, but come July, I’ll be dancing in the aisles and cheering Amanda on to the tunes of ABBA….
Nadine Bells
on her toes
