VIP Viewpoint | Why Do I Keep Rooting For Kevin Costner? @VIP_Viewpoint | Uploaded May 2024 | Updated October 2024, 10 hours ago.
Why Do I Keep Rooting For Kevin Costner?
Before I was even born, Kevin Costner began work on his film Horizon: An American Saga. The three-hour, grimy, violent epic debuted at Cannes out of competition, receiving criticism for being lifeless, boring, and, most damningly, not at all like a movie. At its running length, it is merely "Chapter 1" of the narrative, which Costner claims might involve up to three additional films and eleven hours of viewing.
And yet, here I am, acting as like there is nothing more pointless to do with three hours of a late spring afternoon or evening than to browse the Regal Cinemas app and see when I might purchase tickets to attend this film.
Sure, it would be simple to remark, "Well, I love Kevin Costner." Not that I adore Kevin Costner. Kevin Costner is likeable. I kind of like Kevin Costner sometimes. Being a Midwesterner boy—that is, a boy who grew up vacationing in Galena, Illinois—there was an unwritten rule that Field of Dreams had to play every three to four months, or else we would all lose our feeling of familial duty and our wanderlust for all things baseball. My fondness for that movie stemmed more from its surreal aspect, which John Mulaney so eloquently brought up during this year's Oscars, than from my obsession with Costner. In addition, Ray Liotta was the one in the film who, as a child, really stuck with me.
To be clear, I believe that Costner is often both a good actor and a passably good filmmaker, which places him on par with, say, Bradley Cooper and just a notch above George Clooney, whose films are generally passable at best. I adore the seductive yet realistic venom he infuses into Bull Durham. This is a movie that you should see immediately if you haven't watched it yet. Bull Durham is a must-watch this season. I adore his daring curiosity in portraying JFK; this is an actor who can be both "just smart enough" and "just dumb enough," leaving me to question how intelligent or stupid he really is. I adore his posthumous sultry attempts in the low-budget Western drama Let Him Go, which poses the question, "What if Kevin Costner and Lesley Manville had to go head-to-head?" I also adore his epiphany at the conclusion of Molly's Game. You would want to know the outcome!
A similar kind of sincerity permeates Costner's directing work; it's evident that he views Dances With Wolves as a Romantic epic that is both expansive and sublime as well as somewhat perplexing. It's the kind of item that should have aged horribly yet has, for the most part, aged fairly well. The secret to Costner is that he consistently hits the mark in the middle. Though not overly gorgeous, he is attractive. Though not overly intelligent, he is clever. He doesn't act like a freak when he is drawn to beauty. Even though he lacks irony, he is able to retain a wry sense of self-awareness. With every new act, Costner says, "Who cares?" knowing that he is being sincere. He's the movie guy equivalent of the golden mean, in a manner.
I have an almost old-fashioned "Well, bless his heart" reaction to everything he does since it makes him difficult to despise but also impossible to adore with any kind of intense devotion. Is Costner planning to direct an eleven-hour Western epic where the white man is the hero? Yes. Although Costner claims to be from Compton, is he really from Lynwood, given his background in race studies? Okay, then. Is Costner's inaction at the Santa Monica shelter preventing him from attending the Golden Globes? Naturally. Did Kevin Costner back Mayor Pete? God bless his heart.
These days, we have less and fewer Costner types, and the larger Hollywood system is probably better off for it. How many men do we need to admit that, in certain cases, Manifest Destiny worked well for some people? But like the much-maligned Megalopolis by Francis Ford Coppola, or Ben Affleck's directing career, or Maestro: A Bradley Cooper Film, the Costner star image is emblematic of a kind of white-male conceit that is mainly well-intentioned but that we should try to limit but not completely eradicate. By all means, let these guys raise the money themselves, sell their vineyards, and continue making movies until their divorce. They are making and breaking their own decisions. If it's worth the effort, I'm willing to meet them halfway.
I'll watch Horizon for a minimum of two chapters, expecting something that I know it won't be. The long-winded complaints of an old movie star seem more and more romantic, if not completely alien, in the face of increasingly personalityless "four-quadrant" entertainment. I'll keep supporting him out of some unrequited loyalty that I don't really understand. Costner didn't create Horizon for me, after all. It was made for him, and no one else. God bless his heart.
Why Do I Keep Rooting For Kevin Costner?
Before I was even born, Kevin Costner began work on his film Horizon: An American Saga. The three-hour, grimy, violent epic debuted at Cannes out of competition, receiving criticism for being lifeless, boring, and, most damningly, not at all like a movie. At its running length, it is merely "Chapter 1" of the narrative, which Costner claims might involve up to three additional films and eleven hours of viewing.
And yet, here I am, acting as like there is nothing more pointless to do with three hours of a late spring afternoon or evening than to browse the Regal Cinemas app and see when I might purchase tickets to attend this film.
Sure, it would be simple to remark, "Well, I love Kevin Costner." Not that I adore Kevin Costner. Kevin Costner is likeable. I kind of like Kevin Costner sometimes. Being a Midwesterner boy—that is, a boy who grew up vacationing in Galena, Illinois—there was an unwritten rule that Field of Dreams had to play every three to four months, or else we would all lose our feeling of familial duty and our wanderlust for all things baseball. My fondness for that movie stemmed more from its surreal aspect, which John Mulaney so eloquently brought up during this year's Oscars, than from my obsession with Costner. In addition, Ray Liotta was the one in the film who, as a child, really stuck with me.
To be clear, I believe that Costner is often both a good actor and a passably good filmmaker, which places him on par with, say, Bradley Cooper and just a notch above George Clooney, whose films are generally passable at best. I adore the seductive yet realistic venom he infuses into Bull Durham. This is a movie that you should see immediately if you haven't watched it yet. Bull Durham is a must-watch this season. I adore his daring curiosity in portraying JFK; this is an actor who can be both "just smart enough" and "just dumb enough," leaving me to question how intelligent or stupid he really is. I adore his posthumous sultry attempts in the low-budget Western drama Let Him Go, which poses the question, "What if Kevin Costner and Lesley Manville had to go head-to-head?" I also adore his epiphany at the conclusion of Molly's Game. You would want to know the outcome!
A similar kind of sincerity permeates Costner's directing work; it's evident that he views Dances With Wolves as a Romantic epic that is both expansive and sublime as well as somewhat perplexing. It's the kind of item that should have aged horribly yet has, for the most part, aged fairly well. The secret to Costner is that he consistently hits the mark in the middle. Though not overly gorgeous, he is attractive. Though not overly intelligent, he is clever. He doesn't act like a freak when he is drawn to beauty. Even though he lacks irony, he is able to retain a wry sense of self-awareness. With every new act, Costner says, "Who cares?" knowing that he is being sincere. He's the movie guy equivalent of the golden mean, in a manner.
I have an almost old-fashioned "Well, bless his heart" reaction to everything he does since it makes him difficult to despise but also impossible to adore with any kind of intense devotion. Is Costner planning to direct an eleven-hour Western epic where the white man is the hero? Yes. Although Costner claims to be from Compton, is he really from Lynwood, given his background in race studies? Okay, then. Is Costner's inaction at the Santa Monica shelter preventing him from attending the Golden Globes? Naturally. Did Kevin Costner back Mayor Pete? God bless his heart.
These days, we have less and fewer Costner types, and the larger Hollywood system is probably better off for it. How many men do we need to admit that, in certain cases, Manifest Destiny worked well for some people? But like the much-maligned Megalopolis by Francis Ford Coppola, or Ben Affleck's directing career, or Maestro: A Bradley Cooper Film, the Costner star image is emblematic of a kind of white-male conceit that is mainly well-intentioned but that we should try to limit but not completely eradicate. By all means, let these guys raise the money themselves, sell their vineyards, and continue making movies until their divorce. They are making and breaking their own decisions. If it's worth the effort, I'm willing to meet them halfway.
I'll watch Horizon for a minimum of two chapters, expecting something that I know it won't be. The long-winded complaints of an old movie star seem more and more romantic, if not completely alien, in the face of increasingly personalityless "four-quadrant" entertainment. I'll keep supporting him out of some unrequited loyalty that I don't really understand. Costner didn't create Horizon for me, after all. It was made for him, and no one else. God bless his heart.
