Why the Tom Cruise hate?

[wdm0744]

It seems like it is so in vogue right now to hate Tom Cruise.

I don't get it. Sure he's strange and a little nuts, but most actors are. Why is he treated any differently?

I don't like most actors. I'm very good at separating the person they really are from the parts they play.

I've always thought Cruise was a fine actor, and I've enjoyed him in most of the movies I've seen him in. I may not like him if I met him personally, but that's not going to stop me from seeing one of his movies if it sounds interesting.

So what's the deal? Why does it seem that there are so many people out there routing for "Valyrie" to fail?

[PoolMan]

Ah, "Valyrie", the story of a transgendered model who aspired to kill Hitler.

I don't hate Cruise. But I have had it up to here (indicates someplace high) with all the media coverage on him. And it's been a while since I've seen a Tom Cruise movie that didn't feel like either shmaltzy nonsense (Vanilla Sky) or overhyped madness (Mission Impossible III, War of the Worlds). I think Collateral was his last movie I really liked, and that was mostly because the movie demanded he shelve a lot of his usual strengths.

I dunno... mostly it's the way you can tell the "feel" of a Tom Cruise flick, y'know?

[TheLuckyOne]

I'm fairly ambivalent toward Tom Cruise - I like a lot of his older movies, haven't seen many of his recent ones. I like him fine, he's just kind of a non-entity to me.

But putting myself in the shoes of his critics, I think it comes down to two things: his marriage to Katie Holmes and conversion of her to Scientology, and his comments to Matt Lauer about postpartum depression. A lot of people, women especially, got very angry at Cruise implying that PPD isn't a "real" disorder or can just be treated with vitamins. Even women who have never experienced it are sympathetic toward those who have, and the fact that Cruise is a man trying to tell women about something he can never personally experience rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. Yes, he's made up with Lauer since, but I don't think the stigma has ever really gone away, and it made people take a closer look at some of the stuff in his life that they would otherwise have been more willing to overlook.

As to Katie Holmes, I think the mentality among a lot of people (fairly or unfairly, I'm not taking a side) is that Cruise essentially kidnapped her into Scientology. Of course none of us can really know what went on in their courtship, but you take someone who had projected the image of a sweet, innocent young actress and within two years she's converted religions and is pregnant, and it's going to raise some eyebrows. Again, not taking sides, but I think a lot of people have the mentality that Cruise and the Scientologists basically "corrupted" her, to use some melodramatic language.

As well, I think people's opinion of Scientology itself has shifted in the last couple of years from seeing it as a kooky but harmless pursuit of Hollywood stars to an actual insidious, potentially dangerous cult. The release of more information about what it's all about and how practitioners rise within the religion (through cash donations) has rubbed plenty of people the wrong way.

-D

[BlackCatWhiteCat]

Dec 23, 2008 11:25:59 GMT -5 TheLuckyOne said:

Yes, he's made up with Lauer since, but I don't think the stigma has ever really gone away,
-D

Made up with Lauer? I thought his comments were directed towards Brooke Shields and her book based on her struggle with PPD? That being the case, shouldn't he had made up with her?

I myself have been ambivalent towards him as well. One of my best friends, though, hates Tom Cruise with a passion that burns with the fire of thousand suns. To the point that I dreaded anyone mentioning his name around her, lest she snap into a tirade of venom and vitriol and other unpleasant v-words.

I think that's unfair (and really annoying). While I understand the anger over comments he has made I have next to no interest in stars' personal lives and the stupid things they say and do (and let's face it...a large majority say and do predominantly stupid things). Tom Cruise never was my coup de grace of actors anyway, so maybe that makes it harder for me to get so worked up. Maybe I would be more upset if an actor I had really liked went down this path. Maybe not.

Maybe (okay,definitely) a lot of people are far too entrenched in the lives of stars. For those people, I don't understand the obsession and subsequent desire to burn Cruise at the stake. For others, maybe they have difficulty supporting someone like Cruise who has said and done things that are very upsetting to them (like the PPD comments). In that case I think it's more appropriate just to not watch his movies and state your reason why if asked, not bombard the internet and everyone you meet with an all-out tirade against the man.

/soapbox

[sandrine]

Personally, I think that anyone who believes women should give birth silently is certifiably insane, and should be sent away to a padded cell. I also think it's funny that he never realised that his daughter's name, despite all the noble connotations in Persian, means 'Mouse' in French.

Thing is, you can't help knowing loads about Tom Cruise, and I think that's what makes people hacked off about him. For instance, I know his daughter's name just from watching GMTV in the mornings, and from watching the news. People probably feel that he's being forced in their faces, and they don't like that.

I think it's more appropriate just to not watch his movies and state your reason why if asked, not bombard the internet and everyone you meat with an all-out tirade against the man.

I completely agree with you there. I can never understand why people watch films which have an actor in them that they know that they dislike. (Unless, of course, you're planning to just ignore them and focus on an actor you do like. I hope Paul Bettany appreciates all the dross I had to sit through in The Da Vinci Code.)

[eatmyshorts]

I agree with you WDM, Valkyrie looks awesome and I don't get why people want it to fail, or why everybody hates Tom Cruise. I'm sure if i really looked into the life of every actor I have watched in a movie, there would be a lot of actors whose personalities I hate. It doesn't mean that they are bad actors or that their movies are going to be automatically bad.

[rabidmonkeys]

Valkyrie is getting pretty good reviews.. including Cruise's performance. I definitely want to see it now.

Personally I've always liked Tom Cruise, even though he did go a little wacko in the past little while. I'm pretty sure I've enjoyed every single movie he's been in, and he's an enjoyable, charismatic person to watch too. He's got a pretty good track record for picking his projects.

I can understand why people hate him though.. he's been overexposed practically his whole career, though I think there's a good reason why he's been the biggest star for so long.

[Rett Mikhal]

I don't know, anyone who can make someone commit career suicide THIS BIG might be playing with forces unknown...

But on the bright side! No more Katie Holmes! Hooray! Hooray, Tom Cruise, Hooray!

On the down side, no more F-14s. Boo. Boo, U.S. Navy, Boo.

Bottom line is, he's crazy, but only about 1% as crazy as the average user on Yahoo Answers. Plus, he rid my existence of Katie Holmes, so a small shrine for him will soon be made.

Dec 22, 2008 22:18:18 GMT -5 PoolMan said:

I dunno... mostly it's the way you can tell the "feel" of a Tom Cruise flick, y'know?

I disagree. Top Gun is CLEARLY about the F-14s, and on a more relevant example, Tropic Thunder hardly feels like his film at all even if he is one of the main characters.

[katiem]

I don't know Tom Cruise as a person, so I don't really care either way about him.

However I do know Tom Cruise as an actor, and I will join the group who don't like him. I agree with PoolMan, Tom's films to have a certain feel about them. For me its a feeling of boredom.

[coccatino]

as a person... well.. I'm a psychotherapist, and he thinks that makes me evil. Good times.

as an actor, he annoys me. I have enjoyed many of his films, but I just don't enjoy HIM and it's been years since I really liked something he did.

[DTH]

I don't hate anyone (one of my many personal philosophies is that hating someone requires a lot of emotional energy, why waste it on negativity?) but I can understand why people do.

Tom Cruise is one of those figures that I can totally understand why people hate. And yet on paper, he doesn't deserve it. Yes, he's a scientologist. Having read up on this, even I find it difficult to swallow but there are lots of stars who are scientologists (Beck, for example), so Cruise doesn't deserve anymore Haterade for his views. As to his other flaws, the ego, his Wolverine-like media saturation... There are plenty of other stars who have those same traits.

Personally, I think the issue is Tom Cruise just encapsulates so much that is wrong with Hollywood that he just draws fire: he is living a life that many would kill for and he knows it. Lots of people are successful, fair play to them, but Cruise seems to revel in it. I mean, he acts like he's the Space Pope with his visits with his fans etc.

I don't begrudge him his lot at all, but I can't think of any other hollywood star over whom opinion is so divided...

[Rett Mikhal]

Jan 4, 2009 8:14:58 GMT -5 DTH said:

I don't hate anyone (one of my many personal philosophies is that hating someone requires a lot of emotional energy, why waste it on negativity?) but I can understand why people do.

My personal philosophy has always been the sun gives us limitless energy that we take for granted; so spend as much it as possible by hating everyone and everything.

So, I suppose I should give an actual constructive piece of opinion in this thread. I think people hate Tom Cruise because he falls between the cracks of Hollywood's siren songs. The easily amused people don't like him because he's into these pseudo-intellectual movies now like Vanilla Sky or Lions for Lambs. Intelligent film dissectors hate him because they see how full of himself he is. He seems to refuse to work with directors who won't zoom in on his face just a little bit too much in every other shot, and that even shows up in his posters. When is the last time a Tom Cruise movie came out that was Struzan-esque as opposed to just his face or his body on some fancy colors?

[sirgallahad2]

Every Movie with Cruise in it is essentially the same. He is the exact same person with the exact same mannerisms and delivery. "Cocktail" He's Tom Cruise the bar tender, "Top Gun" T.C. the Naval Aviator, "Days of Thunder" T.C. the NASCAR driver... You are all smart enough to get the pattern. The only films where he has actually had to ACT are the following 3

Interview with a Vampire, Magnolia, and Collateral. I am indifferent to an actor/celebrity and their personal life.

[Rett Mikhal]

You have a point, but I find it interesting you're the first person I ever heard mention that. Other actors have gotten well-deserved flak for the same (Michael Cera, you're not an actor, they just follow you with a camera) and yet people always gravitate towards Cruise's personal life. I wonder why that is, other than it is what the Underworld Spawns (PR people) want us to see.

[katiem]

Jan 3, 2009 23:08:01 GMT -5 coccatino said:

as an actor, he annoys me. I have enjoyed many of his films, but I just don't enjoy HIM and it's been years since I really liked something he did.

I believe the last film I enjoyed that he was in was Interview with the Vampire, which was to my 14 year old loser self what I suppose Twilight is to the current 14 year old losers.

I will also admit that I enjoyed Far and Away and Legend (solely for the excellent Tim Curry).