Vince Vaughn on why Hollywood doesn’t make comedies

One of the great comedic actors of our time, Vince Vaughn, appeared on the most recent episode of Hot Ones, an interview program in which celebrities answer questions about their lives and careers while eating progressively spicier wings. I highly recommend watching the full episode because Vaughn is incredibly charming, funny and way more intelligent than he gets credit for.

One question really caught my attention. The host, Sean Evans, asked Vaughn, “There’s been endless ink spilled about Hollywood no longer making the R-rated, wide-release theatrical comedies that were such a tower of strength in your career. How have you seen Hollywood’s interest in making those kinds of films change over the course of your career and what do you think are the forces at play?”

As Sean suggests, there have been a lot of theories about why Hollywood no longer makes “bro comedies” like Wedding Crashers, Old School and Dodgeball. Now we get an answer directly from one of the biggest stars of those movies.

“They just overthink it,” Vaughn said, before explaining that the film industry uses existing brands as vehicles for storytelling rather than life situations and events. “The people in charge don’t want to get fired more so than they’re looking to do something great. They kind of want to follow a set of rules that somehow get set in stone but don’t really translate… but as long as they follow them they won’t get fired.”

This is a little bit more of a refined point than “movies have gone woke.” Movie studios and executives are risk-averse both because they don’t want to get in trouble but also because they don’t want to lose money. If you have an IP or brand name that is known to move product, then creating a film based on it will probably at least get you to break even — and you don’t have to worry about a potentially negative cultural reaction. Vaughn cites the board game Battleship as an example of this. Certainly superhero movies also apply here. 

Vaughn, however, thinks that audiences are starting to crave edgier content and that Hollywood will be forced to respond. “People want to laugh, people want to look at stuff that feels a little bit like it’s dangerous or pushing the envelope — and I think you’re going to see more of it in the film space. Sooner than later, would be my guess.”

Serena Williams’s celebrity meltdown

Former pro tennis player Serena Williams is taking heat online after she made a post suggesting she was unfairly barred from a swanky restaurant in Paris during the Olympics. Williams tweeted, “Yikes @peninsulaparis I’ve been denied access to rooftop to eat in an empty restaurant of nicer places but never with my kids. Always a first.”

The restaurant responded, indicating that the rooftop bar area was fully booked and that the empty tables Williams spotted “belonged to our gourmet restaurant, L’Oiseau Blanc, which was fully reserved.”

I give props to the restaurant for not canceling another guest’s reservation so that they could seat Williams. Imagine poor Serena having to make a reservation like everyone else! 

It is not surprising that Williams expected she could go anywhere she wanted and get a table; celebrities have long been hoisted to the top of waitlists. Everyone knows there are phone calls made by celebrity assistants to restaurant hostesses and that the restaurants do everything they can to keep the celebrities happy.

There is something really off-putting, though, about Williams posting about it publicly. Did she forget that — as much as we know they are not — celebrities are supposed to have an outward veneer of being just like us? It has typically been a faux pas for celebrities to flaunt their special status, but perhaps in the new influencer era we will see more of this type of public posturing.

Trans Miss Maryland gets a disappointing finish

Bailey Anne Kennedy, the transgender pageant contestant who won the Miss Maryland crown in June, finished outside of the top twenty in the Miss USA contest. Kennedy was the first transgender person and the first person over the age of twenty-eight to win the Miss Maryland title. The Miss USA pageant has the state title holders from all fifty states compete for the overall crown. In the first round, the fifty contestants are reduced to twenty.

The winner of the Miss USA pageant was Miss Michigan Alma Cooper.

Harrison Butker sets another record

Harrison Butker, the Kansas City Chiefs kicker who angered childless cat ladies everywhere when he said during a Catholic college commencement address that many of the women audience probably value marriage and children more than a career, just signed a contract extension to be the highest-paid kicker in the NFL. The new contract lasts through 2028 and is worth $25.6 million.

People furious at his remarks during his speech demanded the Chiefs cut him from the team, but his teammates and Chiefs ownership stood by him. Country star Morgan Wallen, himself a target of many cancelation attempts, was recently spotted wearing Butker’s number at his concert in Kansas City alongside Travis Kelce, Chris Jones and Patrick Mahomes. Despite the online furor, Butker and Wallen are clearly laughing all the way to the bank.