The Epidemic of Bad Cameos

hi reach the top what the hell am I looking at when does this happen in the movie now tis but a scratch a scratch your arms off there it isn't well what's that then I've heard worse in the arsenal of tricks and gags that comedies rely on few are as delicate as the celebrity cameo what's up with the school bus okay I stole what put your hand there and wave them like you just don't care when done well they make for memorable scenes that stay with you long after you leave the theater but me on the other hand when a cameo is done poorly it can become a lightning rod for criticism a moment that defines the movies failure as a whole as cameos have evolved from surprises to near certainties comedies have become glutted with celebrities from Hollywood sports music fashion and beyond this cameo boom has been largely to the detriment of comedies as proportionally we're seeing more bad cameos than good one benefit of this growing sample size though is that we're better equipped to answer why so many cameos are gratuitous pieces of fluff each new appearance strengthens our model of what makes or breaks a celebrity cameo because there are so many different kinds of cameos though I'm going to narrow this essays focus to comedy movies where celebrities play themselves so no superhero movies no Easter eggs and no makeup transformations but please leave your favorite examples in the comments and we'll have a discussion about the celebrity cameo it appears you're about to give an opinion on something very subjective step away from the keyboard or you will be killed on the Internet [Applause] [Music] the laziest type of celebrity cameo is one that trades on a person's fame and nothing else these are appearances with no added value to the movie no plot points no character development no good acting this is clearly demonstrated in Zoolander 2 which is really just one long string of cameos you've got Katy Perry Justin Bieber MC Hammer Willie Nelson Joe Jonas sting Susan Boyle even Neil deGrasse Tyson shows up to deliver this zinger the same formula of celebrity for celebrities sake applies to pop star to be fair this is a mockumentary set in the music industry so their celebrity appearances aren't as random as say neil degrasse tyson but as in Zoolander 2 the number of cameos yields diminishing returns what began as a fun surprise hey they got Mariah Carey devolves into a relentless sideshow of stars hey they got a shirt and pink and Questlove and DJ cloud and Ringo Starr and Carrie Underwood and Adam Levine and Snoop Dogg and Michael bull and Simon Cowell it's sealed it's a cynical way to hold the audience's attention to bet that our obsession with Fame will distract us from the movie's significant flaws and it works I can't count the number of times I've heard someone walking out of a theater say I can't believe they got so-and-so that was awesome if your initial praise of a movie is that someone was in it that probably wasn't a great movie the worst offender is the entourage movie which like the show begins and ends with the idea of getting a bunch of famous people on screen yes entourage is about Hollywood but in the same way that a TMZ bus tour is its entertainment at its most superficial seeing celebrities is the goal in and of itself compared to Robert Altman's 1992 drama the player both offer a behind-the-scenes view of the movie industry both are packed full of celebrity cameos but whereas entourage uses cameos as a crutch the player uses them as background it's a testament to Altman's confidence he trusts the story will hold the audience's attention so he forces celebrities into the periphery rather than into the spotlight then there are cameos that are seemingly random the kind where the priority wasn't to have celebrity just a celebrity there's Elton John and Kingsman too who flexes his comedy chops by dressing in a feathery outfit and dropping f-bombs [ __ ] off [Music] there's Vanilla Ice and that's my boy whose role is so humiliating that you almost feel sorry for him in his few minutes on screen he rips a bong at work pisses on himself gets called a bunch of clever nicknames vanilla bean latte and he forgives Sandler's character for messing around with his mom like this and the list goes on the anchorman News teams Kareem abdul-jabbar and Airplane Charlton Heston and Wayne's World 250 sentence by Jon Hamm and absolutely fabulous dj khaled and pitch perfect 3 Dan Marino and Ace Ventura Kanye West and the Love Guru maybe you love these cameos maybe you hate them but it doesn't change the fact that those cameos easily could have gone to another celebrity it's surprising the casting process aims to find the most suitable actor for each role why not do that with cameos and you may be thinking big whoop why don't you just have a little bit of fun I love Dan Marino the thing is for me these small things ruin a movie the seemingly random assignments tend to take me out of the moment I become more conscious of the movie as a commercial product than a work of art and you know most movies are commercial products especially sequels which are particularly prone to bad cameos a sequels purpose is to cash in on a pre-existing fanbase and make the studio a ton of money what better method when you're short on new ideas but flush with cash then to throw in a few celebrity cameos a glut of cameos is a red flag that what you're watching isn't exactly certified fresh' worse serving up a platter of celebrity du jour almost guarantees the movie won't age well and shouldn't we strive to make things timeless cool dude you might be thinking really brave pointing out that bad movies have bad cameos you got me but equally good movies can have bad cameos too and bad movies can have good cameos it's frustrating and confusing and it's led me to the question what makes a good celebrity cameo I'm not here to dictate what's funny and look if you like that's my boy that's awesome but after watching way too many celebrity cameo clips I've found three features that a lot of my favorite cameos have in common the first is relevance it's the antidote to randomness when a celebrity fits logically within the movie when they're at least plausibly related to some plot line or character it plays better think of LeBron James and trainwreck Bill hader's character is a sports doctor LeBron is if you didn't know an athlete boom it's that simple similarly there's Lou Ferrigno and I Love You Man who entrust the sale of his house to Paul Rudd's character a Los Angeles real estate agent this is the end stacked the deck in their favor setting the movie at a Hollywood party so literally any celebrity could plausibly show up and they do I'm not gonna shoot Hermione just stole all of our [ __ ] or to return to dodgeball there's Lance Armstrong at the time the paradigm of beating the odds who persuades Vince Vaughn's character to rejoin the average joe's and win the tournament quit you know once I was thinking about quitting when I was diagnosed with brain lung and testicular cancer all at the same time but with the love and support of my friends and family I got back on the bike and I won the Tour de France five times in a row but I'm sure you have a good reason to quit and of course Armstrong's doping scandals since then adds an unintentional layer of comedy to the scene which makes it that much more entertaining the second feature is playing against type most commonly when a good-natured celebrity plays a mean version of themselves it's the oldest trick in the book there's Bob Barker and happy gilmore I don't want to PC you I want the whole thing Michael Cera and this is the end hey Neil Patrick Harris and Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle Ben Affleck and Matt Damon and Jay and Silent Bob strike back the clever thing about this type of cameo from a critical standpoint is that it plays well regardless of how you feel about the celebrity if you suspect that celebrities are out of control violent Psychopaths in real life then these appearances confirm your suspicions if you think they're nice people then you're happy to laugh along knowing it's all in good fun Bob Barker would never clock you in real life the last feature that makes for a great celebrity cameo is good acting it's a treat when a celebrity particularly a non actor surprises you in front of the camera what exactly qualifies as good acting is up for debate but I'll throw in my top choices LeBron James and trainwreck Eminem and funny people Ryan Seacrest and knocked up Bill Murray and Zombieland and one of my all-time favorites Alice Cooper in Wayne's World so do you come to Milwaukee often well I'm a regular visitor here but Milwaukee has certainly had its share of visitors the French missionaries and explorers were coming here as early as the late 16 to trade with the Native Americans in fact isn't Milwaukee an Indian name the espied it is actually is pronounced Milwaukee which is Algonquin for the good land I was not aware of that I think one of the most interesting aspects of Milwaukee is the fact that it's the only major American city to have ever elected three socialist mayors does this guy know how to party or what huh huh oh my gosh we are not worthy if I had to boil these cameos down to a single word it would be natural in each case I feel like I'm seeing a genuine part of the celebrity I feel like they're not trying too hard because whatever they're doing on-screen is to a degree who they really are what more could you ask for now I'm not trying to make some sensationalist claim the celebrity cameo is not dead there are always going to be more bad movies and good movies and more bad cameos than good cameos that's what makes the good one stand out but there must be reasons why the good ones work and the bad ones don't and if we can identify those reasons we all benefit audiences have a better time theatres sell more tickets and studios make more money and even if you don't agree with my reasons I hope you'll agree we deserve better than this a most excellent people thank you so much for watching I just want to say I'm starting a new series on my Instagram called book of the week where I will post a book and then a blurb about why you should read it and some passages that resonated with me so if you want to follow that project go over to Instagram and follow me at wills coder and then within the next several days I'm going to release an essentials book list so all the books that were really important to me in developing a personal philosophy and the worldview I'll probably tweet that out but I'll also send that in the YouTube community tab hopefully you guys see that and yeah that's all the info I got for you right now thank you again for watching and I will see you very soon [Music]

Channel: Will Schoder

Views: 370,035

Keywords: video essay, celebrity cameos, chuck norris, dodgeball, zoolander, alice cooper, wayne's world snl, will schoder, cameo, movie cameo, lebron james, the player, entourage, popstar, funny people, adam sandler, vanilla ice, eminem

Id: _r5Y4bcag0g

Length: 12min 7sec (727 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 28 2018