07.03.2012 08:39 AM

Leave Tom Cruise alone!

I liked this because:

1. Lynn Crosbie isn’t running with the snarling, snapping media pack, which is what the best columnists should do.

2. She correctly notes that a lot of the personal criticisms Cruise has faced over the years originate in homophobia; and

3. She correctly notes that a lot of the religious criticisms he’s faced are plain old bigotry and hate.

Like Crosbie says, his sexuality and religion should not affect my views of Top Gun, for example.

Which was, like, the worst movie ever.

19 Comments

  1. Mr. Murdoch esq. says:

    I think Scientology is lurking in the backgorund.

    Scientology continuously recruits and converts. My bet is Cruise’s wife could not be converted enough and she refused to have her child subjected to it. Which means a very unhappy marriage.

    I find this all very predictable. Regardless of his sexual orientation, whoever Cruise is associated with will have to have the same passion and committment to L Ron Hubbard as he does.

    Anyway, as they say in Social Working Circles-it is better to come from a broken family than live in one.

  2. frmr disgruntled Con now Happy Lib says:

    Worst movie ever?……that honour would have to go to “Battlefield Earth”, the film adaptation of the L. Ron Hubbard book of the same name, starring and partially funded by fellow Scientologist John Travolta…………

  3. deb says:

    I liked her article…it was spot on…who cares how he lives beyond the screen. However a part of me feels sorry for him if he is that confused. Until South Park alerted me to it, I didnt know there was any question to his sexuality. He is a strange duck, but in hollywood who isnt!

  4. I never really ‘got’ the obsession or interest so many seem to have with the personal lives of entertainers. In a sense, most Stars are in the publicity business, the publicity feeds their careers, and if they have good publicists, then they enhance their earning power. The same so-called journalists who feed their careers often seem to turn on them in a pack when something juicy comes along. That is part of the deal I guess. What a crappy way to live either relying on crappy journos or writing rubbish for dimwits to read at the supermarket checkout..
    Scientologist, gay, whatever…. Tom Cruise has made a few crappy movies, like Top Gun, and some brilliant and-or entertaining movies like Interview with a Vampire, and Jerry MacGuire. If I met him, I would thank him for entertaining me so well, and so often, and would not really care one way or another about that which does not concern me.

  5. JamesHalifax says:

    Scientology is just a cult.

    It’s creator even admitted it.

  6. u suk says:

    You didn’t like Top Gun? You suck.

  7. Torgo says:

    Well, I fully agree with Warren’s views on Top Gun, and I agree that Cruise’s sexuality is his business and many criticisms and jokes about him do originate in homophobia.

    On the other hand, I’m not completely on board with Warren’s defense of Scientology. They obviously deserve the right to practice their religion and to believe whatever they want. However, their behaviour with regards to critics, former members and governments (including even the IRS!) shows they don’t hold religious freedom (or even personal freedom – see ‘billion-year contract’) in high regard. In fact, I’d go as far as to say many of their actions and activities could even brand them as a criminal organization, never mind just a cult. That being said, they have a right to practice their faith, and they should be left alone except for when they do stray into illegality.

  8. Lipman says:

    Maybe a cut above the usual coverage but still just celebrity idolatry.

    I think Jerry Maguire (and Cruise’s performance) was worse than Top Gun.

    D

  9. M-J says:

    “Plain old bigotry and hate”?

    Surely the Church of Scientology’s long history of, uh, muscular actions against its critics and former believers — see: Hill v Church of Scientology of Toronto [1995], at the time the largest award for libel in Canada — are as deserving of concern as, say, the Roman Catholic Church of Canada’s involvement in the Aboriginal residential school system, for example?

  10. james curran says:

    Perhaps the answer to this riddle lies in the question “why were all his ex wives 33 years of age when they divorced?” Normally I’d link it to some sort of Jesus thing, but not with this Scientology thing lurking in the background.

  11. Evan says:

    Scientology is not a religion. It is a cult that sucks money out of its victims and brainwashes them. While that can also be said about mainstream religions Scientology is different. It uses a wide variety of hocus pocus pseudo scientific mechanical/electronic devices as props and scaffolding for its so called “religion”. All of these devices are frauds and the leadership prey on the followers as do other cult leaders. I do not trust anyone that is involved in Scientology. Such involvement is either a strong sign of a weak mind or one that is close to criminal. In the case of Mr Cruise I expect it is a weak mind. It most certainly demonstrates a total lack of critical thinking skills.

  12. JamesHalifax says:

    Scientology is a cult for rich folks…….if you join, you better pony up for the courses.

    I’m sure that somewhere down the line this group of nut-cases will follow other cults…..via the Jim Jones method.

  13. Raymond says:

    Silly as Top Goon was, it is a brilliant masterpiece when held up beside Independence Day, Armageddon, and 2012.
    Easily the three worst films of all time.

    Now, Deliverance, on the other hand….

  14. James Bowie says:

    With respect to the charges of homophobia, we should not forget the sizeable judgement Mr. Cruise and Ms. Kidman were awarded at The England and Wales Court of Appeal for defamation. The law, like Warren Kinsella, thinks we should leave Mr. Cruise alone.

  15. Hey bud – first time caller – one comment, can’t resist. Top Gun is, hands down, one of the best movies *ever* made. I’ve kept three VHS tapes: two old skate movies AND Top Gun. Respect.

  16. This is stupid but it was Mission Impossible II that wrecked Tom Cruise for me (to which the fault goes to John Woo). I watched Nicholas Cage do some movie about helicopters (which was essentially Top Gun but with helicopters) and I hated him until The Rock. This tells us that the John Woo is really at fault here and all Tom Cruise needs to do to save his career and marriage is do a movie with Sean Connery and Ed Harris.

Leave a Reply to Raymond Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.