The Paris Hilton bashing should stop here
March 22nd, 2008, 10:03 pm Hobbies Ideas
So Paris Hilton has made a movie. A real one, with actors and everything. It%26rsquo;s
called The Hottie and the Nottie, and it%26rsquo;s a comedy about a dweebie
male who%26rsquo;s torn between the ravishing external beauty of the sizzling LA
singleton Hilton (the Hottie of the title) and the kooky internal charm of
her best friend (Christine Lakin, the Nottie).
The film, as you might have guessed, isn%26rsquo;t very good. It%26rsquo;s poorly written,
lazily directed and only vaguely amusing. However, Hilton acquits herself
amiably, with a heavy hint of self-deprecation. She does a good slow-mo sex
icon and a fine spoilt party-going harridan. And, in one scene, sitting on a
picnic blanket with her voice dropping to a whisper and her face stretched
in an unselfconscious, half-lidded grin, she is positively luminescent.
But she is Paris Hilton, and so we must hate her. She makes Bo Derek look
like Meryl Streep, hissed the New York Post%26rsquo;s review,
adding: Possibly cue cards were involved, although that would presume she
can read. The industry bible Variety announced that she%26rsquo;s
laughable, preening in frequent %26lsquo;Look-I%26rsquo;m-sexy!%26rsquo; sequences, while The
Hollywood Reporter could only sneer: She performs the %26lsquo;downward dog%26rsquo;
yoga position with particular skill.
What these reviews have in common, first, is that they were all written by men
of a certain age, men who seemingly respond to Hilton%26rsquo;s self-assured allure
with a mixture of nervous aggression and leering derision. Secondly, their
unthinking dismissal of Hilton as a screen talent is part of a wider
preoccupation with Paris-bashing (incidentally, Hilton%26rsquo;s turn is better than
anything that Scarlett Johansson has done in her past nine movies, or Kate
Hudson%26rsquo;s past seven, or any role from Jessica Alba or Lindsay Lohan).
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