True Detective's Vince Vaughn And The Reality Of A Middle Of The Road Career
Season two of True Detective premieres tonight. The pressure for it to live up to its critically-feted first season is high and much of that pressure rests on the shoulders of those who will be filling the roundly praised shoes of past stars Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. That would be Colin Farrell, Taylor Kitsch, Rachel McAdams and Vince Vaughn. Yes, the guy from Swingers and The Wedding Crashers and a laundry list of mediocre B-list comedy bombs has been handed this plum assignment.
Why, I asked myself when I heard the news, are we still trying to make Vince Vaughn happen? How many chances is he going to get?
Vaughn is a particular flavor of cinematic everyman, but one without the neurosis of a Ben Stiller or the geniality of a Kevin James. His characters frequently seem rumpled, cynically exasperated, in need of a good night’s sleep or on the verge of developing an ulcer. To say he exudes star power would be a stretch – indeed, he seems more cut out for the life represented in the series of spoof corporate stock images he posed for a few months ago. His ability to open a movie has been in decline for years, with March’s Unfinished Business as the latest flop to add to the heap.
And yet, Vince Vaughn gets work. A lot of work. He has worked steadily since Swingers in 1996, often having years where he appeared in four or five films. When British GQ asked him about starring in so many bad comedies, he didn’t even bother trying to spin his resume, telling the magazine:
“I’m not blaming anyone else but myself here. The machine can make you idle. You read a script and then you agree to a role, then soon enough you’re on set looking at a scene that has had all the juice and the life sucked right out of it. You become a hired gun doing a very inoffensive PG-13 movie and, well, you kind of just go along with it.”
Vaughn is dependable, like a middling MLB second baseman who’ll never win a Gold Glove or be voted into the All-Star game, but whose batting average doesn’t drag the team down, who stays healthy and fields decently enough.
The truth is that most of us are Vince Vaughn. The American economy runs on Vince Vaughns — they provide the crucial bridge between slackers and the special snowflakes we’re encouraged to find aspirational. If you’re a Vince Vaughn type, you’re competent, but not too competent. You’re reliable, but not irreplaceable. Your work product isn’t innovative or groundbreaking, but it’s submitted on time and meets a certain standard. You’re liked by coworkers. You can be trusted to show up on time and do what is asked of you, even if the task is tedious or lacking in glory. You aren’t caught up in your job as a source of identity like some method actor middle manager. You clock in and out and sleep easily. You do well enough financially. You don’t rock the boat (much) and based on the aggregation of all of these qualities, you’re pretty much always employed or employable. In its own way, this is more aspirational (and attainable) than forever striving to be lauded as the corporate equivalent of People’s Sexiest Man Alive. And, sometimes, big opportunities even come to you because you’re there, you’ve been there and no one can think of a compelling reason not to give you a shot. The question isn’t “Why Vince Vaughn?” but “Why not Vince Vaughn?” Don’t underestimate the value of stolidity in a world where people can’t even send typo-free emails and executives celebrate laying off staff members with insensitive selfies.
Maybe Vince Vaughn will wow us tonight. Maybe he’s got another gear to his acting we haven’t seen yet, or maybe we’ll just get another solid, predictable Vince Vaughn performance. Considering how well it’s served him so far, I wouldn’t be surprised. And that’s worth something.
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