I’m sorry. Between Daddy Day Camp and Norbit, Cuba Gooding Jr. is having one of the worst years of his career. Frankly, I wasn’t certain Gooding could out do 2002 which held Boat Trip and Snow Dogs, but he’s managed it. If those movies weren’t bad enough, the Haynes ad campaign probably tossed him over 2002’s movie choices. Needless to say, another Oscar isn’t in Cuba’s future any time soon.
Considering his failures, it’s amazing Gooding hasn’t been labeled as box office poison and set out to graze. Instead he keeps getting roles and his movies keep getting picked up, as evidenced by today’s announcement in The Hollywood Reporter that Gooding’s latest has been picked up by Sony for all distribution rights.
Admittedly, the movie sounds a little more promising than an Eddie Murphy cast-off. The film, Linewatch, features Gooding as Michael Dixon, a former gang member who escapes his neighborhood’s grasp to go on and become a boarder patrol officer. Unfortunately (as happens in these movies), Dixon’s past comes back to haunt him when his former gang leader winds up on his door, threatening the former ganger’s wife and daughter. Evan Ross and Omari Hardwick co-star and the movie is directed by Kevin Bray (Walking Tall).
Sony is looking at releasing Linewatch as a summer 2008 release. I’d say that shows added potential for the movie, but it would only bring up that Daddy Day Care argument again, which was also released in the summer.
As much as I rag on Gooding for some particularly bad decisions, I still like the actor as a performer. I hope he can break out of this slump he’s put himself in. At the very least, let’s try not to create a year any worse than this one.
