Movie Jail: This week’s defendant is…Gerard Butler!

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Welcome to Movie Jail, a facility like any other, only its inmates are Hollywood

shithouse.

The

Defendant

Gerard

Butler

The

Case

The Prosecution: P.S. I Love You, The Bounty Hunter, Gamer,

Playing for Keeps, Nim’s Island, The Ugly Truth*

Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, one name we keep reading week to

week as a possible defendant for Movie Jail (other than M. Night Shyamalan) is Mr.

Gerard Butler. This submission had us scratching our heads until we took a look at his

filmography and

pinpointed quite a few moments where he might’ve went wrong. We understand that actors

like to switch things up and spread themselves out to other genres to keep things

interesting and possibly open up a whole new audience to their craft, but damn, is this

guy trying to purposely sabotage his career? As an audience, we expected big things from

this guy when he hit the general population’s conciousness with 300, but how do

you follow that up with a rom com

and a a kid’s movie?. Look at his

Rotten Tomatoes

ratings and you’ll see he’s had only 2 (!) fresh ratings since 300. And speaking

of Rotten Tomatoes, his new film Playing for Keeps is on

pace to being the worst reviewed movie of the year. Lock him up? We’d say so.

The Defense: RocknRolla, 300, Law Abiding Citizen,

Coriolanus, How to Train Your Dragon*

Ladies and Gentleman of the jury, is there anything wrong with making a

living as a working actor? Do we not consider the actor’s motivation, whether it’s

simply to receive a paycheck or try something new? Or do we throw money on the floor,

yell “dance motherf*cker!” and expect the actor do what WE want them to do? Mr. Butler

might not have the best critically reviewed movies, but audiences respond to them.

This year’s Chasing Mavericks received a rotten rating but audiences loved it,

giving it a 76% fresh rating. Same goes for Machine Gun Preacher, The Ugly

Truth and, Law Abiding Citizen (which he was great in even if the movie

wasn’t). Sure, we’d like him to play more tough guy roles and kick a lot of ass, but

considering his penchant for peppering in some action flicks in between all the other

fluff, we ask the jury to move for an acquittal of all charges.

IN

CLOSING…

So, what’s to be done with Gerard Butler? Is he a lost cause? Can we

look forward to more “by the numbers”, yet fan friendly romantic comedies and
dramas?

Or can we hold out hope that he’ll deliver the goods once again?

And the

most important question to be asked, once all evidence is taken into

consideration, we ask

you The Jury, is Gerard Butler GUILTY or NOT GUILTY? Let’s hear YOUR

arguments, either side, by STRIKING BACK BELOW.

*The court recognizes that all movies are subjective, so

relax.

WHAT SAY YOU, GUILTY OR

NOT?

LAST WEEK’S

VERDICT

It is the jury’s decision that after reviewing

last week’s evidence, the court finds Ice Cube

GUILTY of all charges. In what could be one of the biggest non-event trials in

Movie Jail history, the jury, when they weren’t drunkenly pulling themselves out of a

gutter felt that Mr. Cube’s transformation to happy go lucky, family friendly “Dad”

was a poor move for his career. Authorities will keep a close eye on him in to see how

his next films develop, at which point (depending on his roles) he might paroled or

thrown into the Hole.