October 16, 2024

God's Perfect Idiot

An ode to Deadpool and Ryan Reynolds

“Some motherfuckers are always trying to ice skate uphill.1” Wesley Snipes as Blade

By the time I am writing this, I am sure that Deadpool and Wolverine broke yet another box office record. If you haven’t watched the movie yet (and why haven’t you?), I’ll preface the rest of the essay with an obligatory SPOILERS ALERT APLENTY. Though, this is not about the movie, but rather the man behind it, who seemingly perfected a one-trick pony act to the status of a global cultural phenomenon - Ryan Reynolds. In my Mea Culpa to Kirsten Dunst I wrote that some actors “find success within a very narrow and limited range and depth of their ability or essentially playing the same character over and over - Ryan Reynolds is probably the best example.” Ryan is not the best example of such actors, that honor currently belongs to Keanu Reeves who managed to find his groove as an emotionless, wooden caricature of an actor who successfully led 3 (!!) separate movie franchises (The Matrix, John Wick, and Bill and Ted), participated in another one (Toy Story) and starred in close to a dozen of movies with significant cult following (from Youngblood to Point Break to Bram Stoker’s Dracula to Speed to Devil’s Advocate to Constantine to Scanner Darkly and so on). That said, it is important to mention that one could easily argue that the honor should belong to Benedict Cumberbatch for perfecting the extremely socially awkward genius with no true human emotions who is smarter than everybody else in the room routine that resulted in two Academy Awards nominations.

As I was writing this, we ended up watching Shrinking, which is actually an incredibly well written and actually at times authentically funny show. However, I keep struggling through every darn episode because of two other one-trick pony actors - Harrison Ford, who is actually perfect in very short appearances but completely goes to being himself in any scene that requires more than two lines of dialogue (and yeah, in the department of one-trick ponies Ford may seem to be on-par with Keanu but I’ll give the nod to the latter simply because Ford actually has just as many franchises, but in many of them - from Star Wars to Blade Runner - there was a significant supporting cast); and Jason Segel who I have completely forgotten about because of how well forgettable he is in everything he has ever been in, including Shrinking. This reminded me of a very similar show from a couple of years ago - Loudermilk starring another one-trick pony Ron Livingston, the show was not really well developed but I happen to like Ron, probably due to first seeing him in Office Space, and enjoyed watching it but clearly would’ve turned it off if the lead actors in the two shows have been reversed.

Livingston and Segel reminded me of a myriad other actors who either completely lack any semblance of range or simply choose to basically act as themselves at all times - from the classic stars like Humphrey Bogart to fan and Academy favorites like Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, and Denzel Washington to the slew of action-oriented stars like Ah-nold, Stallone, Vin Diesel… this could get lengthy just as the list of comedy stars like Ben Stiller, Adam Sandler and many others. The point I am trying to make is that there a lot of movie stars across generations and genders who are stars for reasons other than their acting abilities but vast majority of them sticks to their bread and butter (yeah, Stallone tried comedy in Oscar; Adam Sandler tried drama in Punch-Drunk Love, Will Ferrell in Stranger Than Fiction2, and of course Jason Segel as the late author David Foster Wallace in the End of Tour.

There probably is a very significant bias built into our perception of movies with these stars in the lead roles. For example, as I mentioned earlier, I like Ron Livingston, largely due to his performance in Office Space, and will enjoy watching him in practically any crap on the screen. Reversely, I don’t really care for Ben Stiller and it takes something of significance for me to watch or even like his movies - best example is probably Tropic Thunder where Tom Cruise3 surprise appearance stole the show.

Of course everyone mentioned in the last couple of paragraphs has a long way to go to catch up with William Shatner, who at some point I half-jokingly started to refer to as either “god or devil reincarnated as a person”

because that is the only possible explanation for how a person with such a lack of any artistic ability managed to produce multiple box office hits, top rated TV shows, top selling albums and the New York Times bestselling books.

I can easily understand the appeal and almost universal like for Keanu, while he may lack the necessary acting ability we can easily relate to him as a person who has suffered through multiple tragedies in his life but remained genuinely kind and down to earth with many stories about his personality regularly filling in internet pages, including a long-standing meme that Keanu is simply immortal. Being a star in a ton of actually good and often cult-level movies where he usually plays very likeable characters does not hurt either.

However, where Keanu is incredibly relatable on a personal level and generally plays likeable protagonists, Ryan Reynolds is rather the exact opposite - he is married to another Hollywood star with a bunch of incredibly adorable kids, he owns a successful football team and made way over a billion dollars through investments in Mint Mobile and Aviation gin, he gets to hang out with Taylor Swift and he generally plays smartass assholes from Deadpool’s Wade Wilson to National Lampoon’s Van Wilder. Yes, a lot of those characters are fun but most are a far cry from the standard good guy routine of Keanu.

A large part of Deadpool’s appeal — as a movie franchise, a character, and a brand — is the sense that nothing is sacred. In an era where comic book movies take themselves far too seriously, Merc with the Mouth’s irreverence is a breath of fresh air. The first Deadpool felt a little like an act of guerilla filmmaking within the world of mega-franchises4, with Reynolds leaking a test reel to the internet to force Fox to greenlight the movie, and foregoing his salary to pay for the writers to be present on set.

The first time I watched Ryan Reynolds and became a fan was in the late 90s sitcom Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place. Ryan played a mischievous everyman with boyish looks who often creates chaos in the lives of his friends. Sounds familiar, does not it?? While in college, he has difficulty settling on what he wants to do in life. If you ask me about the show’s premise or the characters or really anything, I can’t really remember much as it was a forgettable sitcom, even with 7.4 rating on IMDB. Yet, it was virtually impossible to not like “Berg,” a smart, funny, likeable slacker and underachiever…. which is exactly what most of his roles ever since have been from Van Wilder to cameos in Scrubs and Harold and Kumar to Waiting and Just Friends; someone who is perceived as lacking intelligence or having other shortcomings, this unintelligence usually nothing more than a facade that hides something deep and meaningful. God’s perfect idiot.

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The concept of the "God's perfect idiot" can be seen as a reflection of the idea that divine wisdom often operates in mysterious and unexpected ways. It can also serve as a reminder that true wisdom may not always be found in the most obvious places. That’s precisely what I realized Ryan Reynold possesses in spades in real life - an innate wisdom of being perfectly attuned with the ephemeral pop culture and reflecting a projection of us, the viewers, that is so easy to relate to. That is why fourth wall breaking Deadpool was not only created with the idea of Ryan Reynolds actually playing him5 but why Ryan Reynolds was destined to play Deadpool and have such a cultural, critical and box office impact.

Yes, in retrospect some of “classic” Ryan movies are a bit cringy and I am not talking about RIPD or Green Lantern here, rather Van Wilder, Waiting, Just Friends, etc. Yet they were pretty well received, liked, and successful at the time. This success led to a very expected ego-driven transition to rom-coms and then serious dramatic roles. Don’t get me wrong, The Proposal and Definitely, Maybe are very solid entries to the genre and regardless of commercial success Buried and Woman in Gold are really good movies. The problem is of course is that Ryan is… well Ryan, the God’s perfect idiot of Van Wilder, Blade, and RIPD which does not work well in the setting of different genres.

Through this all, especially considering how badly Blade and Green Lantern were received by reviewers and moviegoers, Ryan kept on trying to make Deadpool and do it right this time. It’s not coincidental that he admits to “falling into Deadpool persona” due to anxiety when giving interviews. It’s either prophetic, visionary or bloody lucky for us that the character who was created in the 90s is pretty clearly who Reynolds is as a person, minus the power of regeneration and being well… quite sexy. The main character, its balance of angst and pop culture slapstick, few elements of moral ambiguity and stereotypical anti-hero persona is not all that different than practically any role that Ryan Reynolds has ever played…or the perception of Ryan himself. This is accounting for the recent “revelations” from Martha Stewart of all people that Ryan is actually nothing like he seems in real life, Reynolds later responded with a comment on Twitter, "I’d disagree with her. But I tried that once. The woman is unexpectedly spry. She really closed the gap after a mile or so." Shortly after, Hugh Jackman offered his thoughts on the situation, responding to Reynolds' comment and agreeing with Stewart, "Finally someone says it." I am sure this is simply the beginning of another feud that Ryan is so famous for - from back and forth trolling with Hugh Jackman and Blake Lively to being called “my godkids’ sperm donor” by Taylor Swift. It is all part of who Ryan is and who he plays.

Deadpool & Wolverine is a perfect parallel to Ryan’s career so far, from the opening “Bye, bye, bye” Logan desecration dance-fight sequence being the irreverent equivalent to the early days of Ryan’s career to the relative lull in the middle of the movie where it is confirmed that Logan is always the wrong guy to the ultimate crescendo-like Deadpool Corps fight scene choreographed to Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” as a near perfect duplicate of Ryan’s Deadpool trilogy career part. If one is to make a list of best songs for movie fight scenes both of the set pieces from Deadpool & Wolverine simply belong on the list.

However, it’s more than just picking a virtually perfect songs for these sequences. It’s the expertly and intricately interwoven pop culture tour de force with the same irreverent and often salacious and sophomoric tone and approach that feels so relatable and authentic. It’s not just the fourth wall breaking commentary on really anything and everything, including joining the MCU “at it’s low point” and introducing Disney to pegging but the choice of the only non-Hugh Jackman Wolverine variant, the Cavillrine, being played by Henry Cavill6,

perhaps the only actor who would be accepted by most anyone as a different face for the Wolverine not only because well he does look perfect for the role but because of Cavill’s universal status of the fan favorite of any and all stans of fanboys and girls7.

Yet, it is still more than that. It is often said that the movie is a perfect eulogy for the Fox Studios X-Men universe. I disagree with that perspective. It is not a eulogy, rather it is a loving tribute, a deeply respectful homage, an authentic and deeply personal celebration of not just the movie universe but the entire era of the early comic book movies.

Deadpool says in the movie that the Fox’ characters like Elektra, Blade, X23 and most of all the Gambit never had a chance to be remembered, to have legacy, which while a good line is not true for at least half of the intended audience, each served a purpose perfectly aligned with the very idea of the movie itself - Elektra to go back to the very roots of the X-men universe and get another meta joke in at her ex-husband’s expanse; X-23 to deliver the line to Logan that helps him discover himself, Blade for a a few meta references8 and jokes but most importantly to celebrate where it has all started even if “some motherfuckers are still trying to ice skate uphill.”

The truly touching and nostalgic behind-the-scenes footage from across 20th Century Fox's multiple Marvel movies montage during the mid-credits is a unequivocal encapsulation of the celebration of where it all has started and where it really needs to go to rediscover itself. The decision to remove the scene depicting Gambit’s survival so as not to allude a tie in into a future stand-alone movie9 while ending the movie with the ridiculously over the top incredibly profane stream of insults from none other than the most good guy of them all, America’s Best Ass, Captain America’s Chris Evans10. There’s criticism over how some punches were pulled in sanewashing the movie for Disney. Yes, there are clear distinctions from the first two movies but it is also disingenuous to expect a movie that’s literally is an ode to comic book filmmaking to bring it all the way down by throwing in a few more profane or explicit jokes or more direct criticism of the universe into which the movie re-introduces X-men and restores all of the Fox movies into MCU cannon.

Especially when the movie reaches out to the widest audience possible with the plethora of cross pop culture meta references and jokes. I needed to watch the movie twice to realize that Wade taking out TVA agents with Logan's bones with the final kill with his katana after one of the soldiers disses Canada, resulting in Wade echoing an unforgettable sentiment and slap from Will Smith at the 2022 Oscars: “Get my country's name out of your fucking mouth!" Not to mention the “Paul Rudd finally aged” joke upon displaying Scott Lang's demise will reach practically anyone with how the actor is widely considered by the Internet to never age given his consistently youthful features and personality11.

However, that criticism is a reminder that while all three of Deadpool movies are most definitely classics and cult favorites from now on, the rest of the recent Ryan’s career is simply regurgitating the same role over and over again between 6 Underground, Red Notice, Hitman’s Bodyguard, Free Guy, etc. Although most if not all of those were fun to watch at least once, you can’t really distinguish between the jokes and at times even plots of those movies for the jokes are the same irreverent ironic assholish brand of Deadpool himself.

Wolverine says that Deadpool really is "God's Perfect Idiot," the name Reynolds was given in the opening credits of the first Deadpool movie. It is most apt as Reynolds is Deadpool and both are Marvel’s Jesus err the God’s Perfect Idiot.