Forum / I Had Dinner With My Little Brother Last Night And I haven't Seen Him In 5 Years And This Is What He Said (But Not To Me)

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    Chris Okum
    Nov 08, 07:30pm

    "You know what the problem with Backdraft is? Besides Ron Howard? Billy Baldwin. They cast him as working class loser trying to make good, but with his Harvard Tennis Team good locks and 200 dollar haircut he looks like he's already done good, which undercuts the whole dramatic arc of the movie. Plus it makes Kurt Russell work so hard to convince you that his little brother Billy is deserving of his sacrifice and ultimate success as a firefighter. And Russell is such a pro that he almost pulls it off, almost. You know, Russell was never cast as a quarterback in a movie but he should've been. He would have been a better choice for Any Given Sunday because Dennis Quaid doesn't look or sound smart enough to be a top flight NFL QB. Dennis Quaid is a backup. A career backup. Kurt Russell is a starter, always. Kurt Russell looks like he's made a couple of pro bowls as well and maybe had a one of those 40 TD, 5000 yard seasons. But they always cast Quaid as a QB. I think he's been a QB in three of four films. And all the films were bombs. That should have told them something. But no on listens in Hollywood, or they don't want to. I bet you someone said, Don't cast Billy Baldwin in this role and they said, What? Huh? We can't hear you. Billy Baldwin is going to be in this movie. And so he was. And so that's why the movie - which should have been a solid B+ family drama - simply doesn't work. Because the relationship between the two main characters is unbelievable. I don't believe for a second that Kurt Russell and Billy Baldwin know each other. They look and sound like strangers to each other. And you want the audience to but them as tight bros. from way back when? And you want me to buy Robert De Niro as a forensic arson investigator? The world's most charismatic and mysterious forensic arson investigator? This is what happens when people who have no idea how to cast a movie cast a movie. It turns into Backdraft. It blows up in your face."

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