Is my Dakota bashing coming to an end?

Hey, have you seen the new Hide And Seek trailer yet? I was pleasantly caught off-guard at what seems to be the creepiest part of this flick. No, I don't mean the prospect of Robert De Niro and Elisabeth Shue getting it on all Leaving Las Vegas-style, although that could possibly wind up leading to the least sexy sex scene in a flick since De Niro and Ellen Barkin shtupped in This Boy's Life. And nope, I don't mean that part where Dylan Baker is alone with a small child, even though it's pretty much impossible to see that kind of thing without conjuring up images of tuna sandwiches and incredibly wrong lovin' in Happiness. I'm talking about Dakota Fanning finally being utlilized in a manner that is seemingly non-vomit inducing, which is quite a refreshing surprise!

As I've griped about in the past (the phrase "manufactured pseudo-adultness" comes to mind), Dakota Fanning just plain rubs me the wrong way. Feh on all those Uptown Girls and Man On Fire roles, which are all just slight variations on the exact same 40 year-old with a uptight exterior who really just wanna wuv their Creasy Bear.

But this time she's brunette, a tad trashy-looking and giving us the willies on purpose...and it actually works! For the first time ever, I think the little punk has been perfectly cast; using a creepy kid with an "imaginary friend" is a tried-and-true formula. From that pig-seeing kid in Amityville Horror, to the talking-finger freakboy in The Shining to that weirdo Stir Of Echoes youngun, these movies always work at minimum as cheesy fun.

But if you really want to get the willies, check out the IMDB message board for Ms. Fanning and the ongoing debate on whether it's cool to call this 10-year-old actress "hot" or not. Fellas, when you're arguing the hotness a kiddie who Roman Polanski, R. Kelly, and even Jerry Lee Lewis would think is way too young, that's a whole bowl of wrong.

Related tune: Young Girl by Gary Puckett (real audio via terrificmusic.com)

posted by drew on 10/29/2004

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Obviously, I'm not trying to re-invent the movie blog wheel here. I'm just never lacking in opinions about movies, pop culture, news, and other assorted hoohah. And my mailman has put a restraining order on me, so here's my place to vent.

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