It's Been A Lovely Cruise

Have I mentioned lately how much I dislike Tom Cruise? Well, if I haven't, let me take a moment to clarify: It's not Tom so much as Tom's behavior. Why this particular person's ups and downs with the media should impact my world is probably worth questioning, and so I shall attempt to defend my petty obsession. Tom is very much a product of my generation. His birthdate is just thirteen days after my own. His rise to fame has in some ways mirrored my own.
Okay, maybe he's had a little more exposure than I have, but it's only because he's had such a good ride. It's been a quarter of a century since he first hit the big time with "Taps" as the psycho-cadet David Shawn. Shortly after that he became a movie star for good in "Risky Business." When your parents leave for the weekend, it's time to turn up the stereo and dance to Bob Seger in your underwear. The rest of it, well it was all just a dream, wasn't it?
The same could be said of Tom's life off-screen as well. He made scads of money and married well (twice), adopted children. He had his share of ups and downs, but it was all within a certain safety zone.
Tangetially, I confess that my heart sank a little when I heard that Beck was a Scientologist, but then it occurred to me that it didn't bother me that the Beastie Boys were Jewish, or Elton John was gay. I liked the music. I liked Tom Cruise movies, and every so often he put on a really great performance. "Color of Money" and "Rain Man" showed that he could keep up with some of the big guns in Hollywood. Is he gay? Is he nuts? Does it matter if his movies are any good?
I probably would have been fine if he hadn't picked a fight with Matt Lauer. If you want to get into a shouting match with a journalist, try Bill O'Reilly for goodness sake - but Matt Lauer? So I stopped watching Tom Cruise movies. I had twenty-five years of Maverick and Ethan Hunt and even the Vampire Lestat. I could let that go.
But when the film version of "Miami Vice" came out, I found myself drawn to the work of Michael Mann, a director whose work I had admired, coincidentally enough, since 1981 and the release of his film "Thief." I had heard very good things about "Collateral," but my Cruise boycott prohibited me from checking it out. Then, early last week as my summer began to wane, I sat on my couch and noticed that the house was empty except for myself and my dog, and she wasn't going to question my integrity as long as I remembered to scratch her belly from time to time. And I enjoyed it - the movie and the dog scratching. It was a very tense atmospheric piece and kept me involved for two hours.
When it was over, I felt a little shame. Sad that I had let myself make promises I couldn't keep, and sad that I had made a somewhat arbitrary commitment in the first place. He's not a role model, after all. I've pretty much gotten over the need to dance half-naked to "Old Time Rock and Roll." Today, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Paramount Pictures announced they are ending their fourteen year relationship with Tom Cruise's film production company because of the actor's offscreen behavior. So, it would seem that Paramount Pictures is going to help me keep my ultimatum.
It's so hard being a pawn of the mass media.