Monday Morning Discussion: Should Jack Black Stick to Supporting Roles?

Did you have a good holiday weekend? If you'reJack Black, probably not so much. In'Gulliver's Travels'he plays Lemuel Gulliver, a magazine mailroom worker who improbably gets shipwrecked on Liliput, an island of tiny, tiny people, and becomes an ego-inflated"hero"before trouble arises. The film opened on Saturday;our critic William Gosssays it is"depressingly dependable on disappointing good taste and moderate expectations at every turn."Adding injury to insult, 'Gulliver's Travels' faredpoorly at the box office.

Asour own Jeffrey M. Andersonpointed out a couple of years ago, Black has given good performances in smaller roles, in everything from 'High Fidelity' (this writer's personal favorite) to 'Jesus' Son' to 'Dead Man Walking.' Aside from 'The School of Rock,' however, Black has been a disaster in major roles, even those where he didn't play the lead ('Shallow Hal,' 'Envy,' 'King Kong,' 'Nacho Libre,' 'Year One'). Is it the man or the material?

Black fits the part in 'Gulliver's Travels' -- or, rather, the part fits him, tailored to his proportions and, to some degree, his on-screen persona -- but we wonder if it's a more fundamental problem. Are his particular talents too limited or ill-suited to play lead roles? While it's doubtful that any other actor could have salvaged this particular movie, we couldn't help wondering if Black, and audiences in general, would be better off if he resumed doling out his feisty character antics in smaller doses and stick to supporting roles.

What do you think?

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