I Will Follow (Up On Shia LaBeouf With You)
by Molly Lambert
Now that America has officially declared Shia LaBeouf its number one official most favorite Jew, I thought you might like to see how fame has affected our little babka.
So now we know why Shia starred in two horrible Project Greenlight movies, Spielberg was just trying to keep him on retainer for future superstardom.
It’s easy to see why Spielberg sees “every mother’s son” in Shia. He looks like every mildly greasy kid that’s even gotten an undeserved hand-job at Jewish summer camp.
Plus he’s got that whole modest working class charm going for him. He’s also got that thing people call Tom Hanksiness meaning he's cute enough to inspire flutters in preteen hearts, but not so handsome that he’s off-putting or threatening to the majority of (schlubby) men.
It goes with a willingness to completely embarrass oneself in the name of comedy, a skill Hanks honed on Bosom Buddies and LaBeouf learned on Even Stevens. Disney Channel is the premier venue for broad mostly unfunny slapstick and sound effects.
The uber-goobly Spielgz at 26, guess now we know why he grew that beard.
Being a child actor is a slippery slope, for every Shia there’s a few thousand little Cody Banks whose agents drop them at puberty:
Let us not forget the strange fate of our own gen Y Shirley Temple:
"The Middle of the Road" -- Johnathan Rice
Is there any movie star these days that didn’t launch on the Disney Channel? Their star making machine is a well-greased wonder. There’s a direct line from Hayley Mills to Hannah Montana with plenty of Ryan Goslings and Jodie Fosters betwixt.
Shia with the terrifying child actor who played the character Beans on Even Stevens:
Shia on set of The Greatest Game Ever Played. A movie about…golf? Didn’t Caddyshack sort of finish that genre off?
Shia and Tim Meadows in Hawaii, from the Even Stevens movie:
Here’s his hippie clown parents:
His next project, from the dude who helmed Disturbia, is called Eagle Eye.
LaBeouf, who stars in the Michael Bay-directed DreamWorks/Paramount actioner "Transformers," is finalizing a deal to play a young slacker whose overachieving twin brother has died mysteriously. When the young man returns home, both he and a single mother find they have been framed as terrorists. Forced to become members of a cell that has plans to carry out a political assassination, they must work together to extricate themselves.
Thanks for reading, faithful T.R. teenyboppers. Stay tuned for more Black Mountain hits and (hopefully less of) Scarjo’s tits.
Molly Lambert is no longer the senior contributor to this recording. Just kidding, but she will not be permitted to read the site should ScarJo perish in some kind of freak boating accident--we are guessing.
"Ballad of a Bitter End" -- The Poems
PREVIOUSLY ON THIS RECORDING
We have begun our discussion of the best books so far this year.
Will discussed his favorite songs of the half year.
Bill Hendrickson met his soon to be fourth wife.