Alphabetical Movie – Look Who’s Talking Too

I’ve always been puzzled by Kirstie Alley’s career.

I’m not saying that I think she’s a horrible person.  I don’t really know her.

Nor am I saying I have a problem with the fact that she has, from time to time, had weight issues.

Because seriously, there’s all sorts of unhealthy body issues going on in the Entertainment industry and the fact Alley gained a few pounds was actually something to be celebrated rather than vilified.  She may have been heavy for Hollywood but she still weighed less than most Americans.

My problem with Alley’s career is that she is a comic actress whom I never found particularly funny.

Her entire repertoire seemed to consist of looking miserable and/or being miserable.  She raised whining to an art form.  An art form that was completely unneeded.

She successfully replaced Shelly Long on “Cheers” because…well…”Cheers” had lots of other characters that were interesting I guess.  It was as if the show producers said “we need another girlfriend for Sam but let’s make sure she’s way more annoying than Dianne so if Shelly ever wants to come back, nobody will care if Sam dumps the new girl.”

Her big movie “success” was the Look Who’s Talking trilogy.  The entire trilogy is about how unhappy she is with everything.

She’s unhappy being a single mom so she eventually falls in love with John Travolta.  That’s the first movie.

Then she’s unhappy because she’s having (really idiotic) marital issues with John Travolta.  That’s the second movie.

Then she’s unhappy because she read the script and realized it was, somehow, worse than the last one.  That’s the third movie.

Alley whined her way through her career and I’m not sure why it worked.  Do we like this kind of character?  Are we drawn to annoying women that we want to slap?  Is this what we think all women are like?

Do we have Alley to blame for Fran Drescher?

I keep thinking that characters like the ones Alley played her entire career have to be created by people who hate women.  In their minds women are, apparently, some sort of burden men have to deal with in order to have sex.

I imagine a lot of women think of men the same way but that whole perspective seems a little bit cynical, don’t you think?

Alley whined her way through her career because, I expect, that was what people told her they wanted.  She wasn’t trying to create a career filled with annoying characters who spent their entire life being miserable about stupid stuff.  Shit – she was in Wrath of Kahn for goodness’ sake!  She didn’t whine in that movie.

That’s what puzzles me.  Other people looked at that whining character and liked it enough for her to be stuck doing the same thing.

I suppose Alley isn’t the only actor who has spent their career playing people that nobody liked.  It can’t be very much fun, though.

I don’t feel sorry for Alley.  I’m sure she has a nice house and a nice car and whether or not she is a nice person, she isn’t suffering too badly as a result of her string of unlikable characters.

No, it was the rest of us who suffered.