We were first introduced to Drew Barrymore as Gertie, the doe-eyed blonde girl in Steven Spielberg classic film, E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial. In 1982, no one had a bad thing to say about the young beauty and yet if you take a peek at message boards pertaining to the actress today you will frequently see the words “old” and “boring” pop up. Which begs the question: are America's sweethearts going sour?
In the early 2000's, Drew had no problem bringing in audiences to view her now hits; Fever Pitch with now, Late Night talk show host, Jimmy Fallon and her duo of films with comedian, Adam Sandler, The Wedding Singer and 50 First Dates.
However, Barrymore's most recent film release, Going The Distance opened at an embarrassing fifth place with just over 8 million, the film has currently grossed 14 million so far.
Although critics were not particularly harsh on Going The Distance, none seemed thrilled with it either. Movie goers called Drew's performance a “half baked effort” stating that “The script left you wondering if Drew was desperate for money or something else that forced her to take her often-played love-struck romantic character to such a low level.”
Another frequent debate about the film, Drew's age. In Going The Distance, Drew plays a woman, Erin, who tries to work out a long-distance relationship with her boyfriend, Garrett, played by Justin Long, Barrymores real life boyfriend. Despite the fact that Barrymore is 35 and only 4 years older than Long, many defamed Drew stating “why is she pretending to be young” and saying that “it was weird watching the two interact, she took the place as an ugly, wrinkly, premature and aging queen.”
The promotional poster for Going The Distance
Just over a year ago, Barrymore was awarded with a Golden Globe for her role in the made for television film, Grey Gardens, in which she played Little Edie, in a story based on the life of the eccentric cousins of Jackie Onassis. Critics praised her for the role and audiences loved her as the character even though it was something completely different than what Drew's fans were used to seeing her play.
Could it be that women in Hollywood have a faster expiration date than the male actors? One fan commented on this saying, “She (Drew) is still doing hipster movies and playing girls in their mid-20's, it doesn't work anymore.”
Drew Barrymore isn't the only actress who is feeling the pressure of Hollywood from her fans and her decreasing box office numbers. Jennifer Aniston who 10 years ago, was everyone's favorite “friend”, Rachel, and also won as Golden Globe for her portrayal of the character in 2003, is now facing the same dilemma's as Barrymore.
Aniston's film, The Switch, opened up to even more disappointing turn out when it placed seventh in it's opening weekend with only 8.4 million dollars, placing well below films that were in their second week of release.
The Switch, which stared Aniston as a 40-year-old single girl, Kassie, who becomes pregnant through her friend Wally, played by Jason Bateman, had fairly positive reviews from critics and yet Aniston was panned by movie-goers calling her “merely a distraction” and stating “how much times can she play Rachel?”
Many argue that both of these women, who were once in the spotlight in Hollywood and considered American's sweethearts, are now being pushed on the back burner for younger starlets. However, some say that these ladies haven't finished their time to shine yet and the reason for these films bombing was merely because of bad timing.
Movie experts said that Aniston film, The Switch, was destined to fail and that it's production company, Disney, didn't plan the release well stating that if the film had been pushed back it would have received a higher ranking in the box office. The Switch opened up to some big hitters this summer such as The Expendables and surprise hits like Piranha 3D and Vampires Suck.
Meanwhile, studios executives at Warner Brothers realized the dangers of releasing Barrymore's film the same weekend at Aniston's and pushed back the release date to September 3 only to see the film rise two places up from Aniston's seventh place to fifth, despite opening up against other heavy hitters like George Clooney's, The American and the most anticipated Machete with a cameo from Lindsay Lohan.
Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler on the set of Just Deal With It
So, the question remains, are Drew Barrymore and Jennifer Aniston up next on the movie starlet chopping block or is it the studios fault for releasing the films at the wrong times? We will have to wait and see how well these two A-listers next films do when they're released. Aniston next big films, Just Go With It and Horrible Bosses will both be released in mid-2011 and Barrymore's Everybody Loves Whales will hit theaters in early 2012.
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