The one-two punch
Justin Timberlake proved he had a sense of humour with his SNL Dick In A Box sketch. Crossing over to movies, however, was a little tougher – that is, until his scene-stealing turn as Napster founder Sean Parker in last year’s The Social Network, a performance that generated awards-level buzz.
This summer JT capitalizes on his big-screen cred with two high-profile comedies. In Bad Teacher, he plays a studly teacher opposite his real-life ex, Cameron Diaz, and in Friends With Benefits he and Mila Kunis try to add sex to their characters’ friendship.
That Mouseketeer has come a long way.
The new (female) contender
After the hugely positive response to Easy A last fall, NOW cover girl Emma Stone is being positioned by Hollywood as the next big female hope.
She turns up in key roles in two late-summer releases. In Crazy Stupid Love (opening July 29), she leads ladies’ man Ryan Gosling to reconsider his promiscuous ways two weeks later, in The Help (August 12), she plays the college-student hero of Kathryn Stockett’s novel about genteel race relations in 1962 Mississippi.
Since films targeting women do particularly well in early August, this looks like a deliberate move to connect Stone to that audience, expanding her fan base beyond the under-30 crowd.
It could pay off. Sandra Bullock’s all serious now that she has her Oscar, Reese Witherspoon isn’t getting any younger, and Something Borrowed proved that Kate Hudson’s pretty much over as far as rom-coms go.
This Stone’s on a roll.
