Tom Cruise

Moses has been on a bit of a jag about Tom Cruise as of late, having come to his defense as far as his behavior and his acting. I happen to think Tom Cruise is a pretty good actor in certain parts. I thought he was great in Vanilla Sky, pretty good in Collateral, good in Minority Report, and perfectly cast in Rain Man. Sure he's done some cheesy stuff earlier in his career, such as Days of Thunder (essentially Top Gun, but with stock cars instead of F-14s) and Cocktail, but they were moderately entertaining fare, and more than worth watching on a Sunday afternoon whilst nursing a hangover. And he takes chances, such as in Eyes Wide Shut (which was amusing in a kind of surreal way) and The Last Samurai (which to my mind was Dances With Wolves, with the samurai standing in for the Lakota as the ancient culture crushed by the forces of modernity, vis-a-vis the evil white man). As far as Tom Cruise's recent behavior, Moses thought that Cruise was perfectly within the bounds of normal behavior on Oprah (I thought he acted like a nut) but embarrassing on The Today Show with Matt Lauer. I actually think Tom Cruise was right to stand up to Matt Lauer and his politically correct, bland as oatmeal opinions. Far from even talking about Scientology on Lauer's show, Cruise brought to the fore something that should be discussed: namely that Americans are getting to the point of being over-medicated. Maybe picking on Brooke Shields wasn't the right thing to do, if only because it made Cruise seem like a bully and a cad. But Cruise was right about Ritalin, and drugging hyperactive children. Which child isn't hyperactive!?! I think Cruise was right, and he got buried under the avalanche of bad press because he dared to question the prevailing orthodoxy regarding medication. This columnist put things in perspective regarding Cruise on Lauer's show.

Lauer thought that Cruise was being judgmental, and that he should keep his opinions to himself. He also thought Cruise should stipulate that – while the actor didn't approve of taking antidepressants – those for whom the drugs had worked should be free to take them.
Why should Cruise keep his opinions to himself? Shields didn't keep her bout with mental illness to herself. She advertised it to sell books. Cruise is entitled to his opinion, just like anyone else.

You can read the rest here.