Serious Actors Wear Facial Hair and Bleed- Pride & Glory vs. Body of Lies

I was at Atlantic Station to see a movie a few weeks ago and when I looked up I saw two giant banners tucked in the corner. One was for Body of Lies and the other was for Pride & Glory.

And there in all their 4 foot giant head awesomeness was Edward Norton and Leonardo Dicaprio, their faces adorned with hair. Their furrowed brows indicating that their characters were wrestling with complex moral and ethical issues. Read: Serious. Read: Important. Read: Pretentious.

Can't you just hear the interview in your head? "See it's a metaphor. Half my face is hidden. We live in the shadows and a beard is a metaphorical half-shadow. A metaphorical half-shadow that's located where words come out. Words out of shadows. Is it truth coming out of the shadows or lies?"

I'm not sure if you've seen the trailer for either film, but I think they're just godawful in the way they don't communicate anything about the plot or story in either film. Body of Lies is the most egregious, with its quick cuts. And Pride's is just plain insulting with the hip hop soundtrack that's supposed to indicate that it's gritty. Hear that penetrating bass, this is hard hitting drama at its best. To reinforce how much the trailers are trying to hide, is the dismal 50% score for Body and the 31% score for Pride on Rottentomatoes.

So let this be a warning to you, if you see either Ed or Leo donning facial hair, be forewarned. There's serious acting and probably poor script choice ahead. Which is never a good combination.