Monday's Man: Michael Fassbender

I finally got around to seeing Shame last night, which starred Michael Fassbender and his enormous, um, acting talent.  At the risk of being blunt, I thought the movie was dumb and, at times, insulting, but it was worth seeing Fassbender in all his glory.  Maybe.

I mean come on, Fassbender plays a gorgeous, rich New Yorker with an amazing body, a fabulous Manhattan apartment, and a third leg but we're supposed to feel sorry for him because he has too much sex?  Oh, the humanity.  The poor guy can screw anyone he wants with just a look. Who would want that life?

Then there's his sister, played by Carey Mulligan in what might just be the single most annoying performance in film history.  I suppose some would think her brave for daring the audience not to like her, and it worked.  She played the Jennifer Jason Leigh in Georgia screwed up sister, but while Jennifer's performance made you feel her pain, Carey's was just painful.  She was out of her depth.  Don't even get me started on her singing.    

The insulting part came toward the end of the film during the Rock Bottom sequence.  Fassbender's sex addict sinks to the lowest depths by, brace yourself, going to a gay bar.  Naturally, only broken, self-loathing bastards to go to gay bars.  And this was not just any gay bar, but one that time-traveled from 40 years ago:  No sign, unmarked door, gritty 70s New York neighborhood, dark and spooky inside with a back room where men do unspeakable things to each other.  It was Bryan Fischer's idea of a gay bar.  Once there, Fassbender actually allows a man to blow him!  Horrors!  

     

In other words, I didn't like the movie.  Forgive me for turning a Monday's Man post into a months-late movie review.  Just to lighten things up, here's Michael in a pre-fame commercial for the airline SAS.  Very unsafe for work, but apparently safe for Scandinavian TV: