And, I'm not talking about all the Scientology crap or the Oprah couch jumping incident, the Matt Lauer interview, the wacky marriages, the rumors of his gayness, the Brooke Shields antidepressant debate, the crazy YouTube clips, or even the cinematic wonder that is Cocktail... (although, admittedly, this is all fun stuff, too).

No, what I'm talking about is Tom Cruise's acting.  I love it when Thomas Cruise Mapother IV lets loose and goes nuts on the big screen.  Why?  Because, all fevered-tabloid joking aside, it reminds us clearly and with tangible evidence that Tom Cruise still is - despite all the BS - an actor worthy of our fascination and money.

Case in point: Frank Mackey (Magnolia, 1999).

This performance flat-out floored me the first time I saw it.  Up to this point, nothing in Cruise's Top Gun portfolio had adequately prepared us for the devastating explosion of misogyny and pain that is macho, self-help guru Frank T.J. Mackey (although, Cruise did leave behind clues to this depth ten years previous in his tormented portrayal of Ron Kovic in Oliver Stone's Born on the Fourth of July).  Taking secondary billing for the first time since before his star turn in Risky Business 16 years earlier, Cruise snatches the generous alley-oop pass from writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson and throws it down so viciously that you can barely process what has just hit you amidst all the shattered glass and emotion. 

His strutting, obscenity-spewing cult figure is so visceral and mesmerizing, half the pleasure of the performance is bearing witness to how far Cruise is willing to push it.  Digging into Mackey's tortured psyche with a fervor and fearlessness that is borderline unsettling, Cruise surprises again in the final act of Anderson's "Valley"-masterpiece by completely breaking down and revealing a vulnerable and needy inner-existence that is startling in its uncertainty and rage.  Props are due to Anderson for writing the eye-popping character and casting the world's biggest star in it, but even bigger ups go out to Cruise for taking the part and killing it. (Ethan Hunt-files be damned)

Exhibit B: Les Grossman (Tropic Thunder, 2008). 

Again, did someone say kill?  Wait.  That's not right - "kill" is way too soft to describe what Cruise does to the role of Les Grossman in Ben Stiller's Tropic Thunder.  The dude obliterates it into tiny little bits, sets it on fire, and then blows it up again just to make sure.  And, I mean this in the best possible way, of course.  Because once again, Cruise travels far outside the box and delivers a tour de force performance in a supporting role that becomes the main thing you remember when leaving the theater. 

Raising the temperature and insanity quotient on his ludicrously hot Frank Mackey from nine years ago, Cruise throws caution to the wind and serves up a characterization of a Hollywood executive so repellent and outrageous that for the first couple moments he is on screen, you don't know how to react.  Almost unrecognizable under a thick scum of makeup and latex, Cruise's gold-chained, furry chested and bald Grossman is a noxious monster of epic proportions - the nightmare come to life of all that is grotesque and wrong with Hollywood and its soul-draining, bottom-line lunacy.  It's hideous.  It's unnerving.  It's hilarious.  And, all because Cruise was willing to go there and more importantly, have the wherewithal and talent to deliver.  You won't laugh harder at the movie theater this year than when Cruise gets his thunder dance on to Ludacris, trust me on this...

There is other evidence of Cruise getting out of his Maverick comfort zone and swinging for the fences - contract killer Vincent in Michael Mann's Collateral comes to mind - but, it is these two seminal, supporting performances mentioned above that best convey Cruise's daring, ability, and magnetism.   As his Joel Goodsen from Risky Business learned from Booger back in 1983 - sometimes you just gotta say "what the fuck"...

Story by Matthew Sidney Long.

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