Precipitous Declines

As I was flipping through the movie channels last night in a feign attempt to not go to sleep, I randomly found the movie "Freaky Friday". You know, that mother-daughter body-switching movie that is just soooo hilarious. No, I'm not speaking of the awful 1995 made-for-TV adaptation or even the original 1976 Disney version starring Jodie Foster (yep, that Jodie Foster), this one features this good-looking, red-headed actress named Lindsey Lohan (yep, that Lindsey Lohan). This was during her "Mean Girls" hey-day. *swoon*

What is forgotten (I'm guilty of this as well) about Lindsey is that she was a pretty decent actress. Not Oscar-worthy, but better than most of the teen idol slop that is out there today. It was a weird viewing experience because I found myself wishing that I would be able to see a new film from this gorgeous actress, in the same way I dream that I was alive when Humphrey Bogart was making films. I was longing for her like she was dead, and that made me sad.

Now, I know this topic has probably been discussed a million times, but it's something I thought about last night: Has there ever been an actress/actor who has fallen further, faster out of popularity than Lohan? I, mean, short of killing their ex-wife and her friend.

The first one that comes to mind for me is Robert Downey Jr., but I don't know if he was at Lohan's mainstream popularity when he went off the rails. Obviously, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Downey Jr.'s was as fast as Lohan's. Maybe the Coreys? Yeah, the Coreys are a better example.

Stories like Lohan, Downey Jr.'s and the Coreys are interesting because it shows both sides of fame: The ability to make lots of money and the ability to allegedly blow it all on...well, blow. Here's to the hope that Lohan has a comeback like Downey Jr.'s, and doesn't become a reality TV whore like the Coreys. But I honestly wonder if an actor can feasibly make a complete comeback anymore, especially with Google and social media never letting the public forget their past.

Also, if you can think of any other examples, I'd love to hear them.

Day 13 -- Blown Away

Released: April 1, 1993

Starring: Corey Haim, Corey Feldman, Nicole Eggert

Writer/Director: Robert C. Cooper/Brenton Spencer

Description: Teenage beauty tries to convince her new boyfriend that her father murdered her mother and that he should die too.

[Review may contain spoilers. Please watch movie before reading, unless you don't care. Most of these films have already been released for a while, so they should be readily available.]

***

As you can probably tell, this is not the amazing Jeff Bridges movie of the same name, which was released a year after this "Blown Away". No, this one stars the Coreys, Haim and Feldman that is, and a very hot Nicole Eggert. To call this an erotic thriller would be a stretch. Yes, it's erotic, but it is nowhere near a thriller.

"Blown Away" is your typical femme-fatale movie from the early 90s with the most notable being the Drew Barrymore "classic" "Poison Ivy". And just like the "Poison Ivy" series this movie takes a former popular child star and shows her in a sexier way. To say Eggert did a few nude scenes would be vastly underselling it. The barely over-20 actress at the time, was nude for practically half the movie, including a sex scene with Haim less than 15 minutes in. 

The film's plot, if there's even is one, is your stereotypical revenge/thriller story. Eggert's mother dies from a bomb placed on her car in the beginning, and after seducing Haim like a good femme-fatale, she convinces him to kill her father since she thinks he's the murderer.

Eggert's performance is average. If she wasn't so beautiful, you wouldn't buy that Haim would commit murder for her. She's sexy, but not as sultry as she needs to be. She appears to be more like an angry teen than a conniving seductress.  Even with the big reveal that Feldman, who played Haim's half-brother, and Eggart were in cahoots to take her inheritance by killing her father and Haim, she didn't come off as vindictive.

While watching this movie, I kept thinking that it's a shame that Haim was more into drugs than he was acting. There were actual moments in this and many of his films where you could see that he had actual talent, but it vanished when he began partying too much. Feldman, on the other hand, never had talent.

Honestly, the only reason to see this movie is if you want to see a pre-Baywatch/post-Charles in Charge, Nicole Eggert naked. The movie is generic and the acting is sub-par, with one exception being Kathleen Robinson of "Beverley Hills, 90210" fame, who was solid as jilted lover, Darla.

Rating: 2/10 -- Really, this is for Eggert's breasts because there was nothing else really worth noting in this film.