So Ron Howard won a few Academy Awards for his latest movie.. A Simple Mind or A Beautiful Plan or something like this. I didn’t see it. I like Ron Howard alright.. I mean, he was a cool little kid on The Andy Griffith Show, sporting some fine short-sleeved shirts and a truly earnest face. And his stint as Richie Cunningham on Happy Days held water, at least for the first few seasons when he played it down and was a solid counter to Henry Winkler’s Fonz who was still wearing the much cooler blue, cloth jacket at that stage and not saying much. (Winkler lost any credibility he might have had as a James Dean figure shortly after switching to leather and getting bigger speaking parts.) It’s as a director that I started having real problems with Howard. Films like “Backdraft” and “The Paper” are packed with so much dramatic Hollywood cheese, they just scream “Opie’s A Big Boy Now!” Saying his style lacks understatement doesn’t cover it. He seems way too caught up in the idea that everyone still pictures him wearing a letterman’s jacket and drinking a milkshake at Arnold’s. But I’m certain that he will hit his stride eventually, when he gets the courage to go against studio support, finance his own feature, and move younger brother Clint up from bit part to starring role. He’s got the money now from a string of commercial hits, so why not put some of it up himself to pair Clint with Cameron Diaz or whomever in a romantic epic? That’s when I will admit that Opie has truly arrived. (4/5/02)
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