It’s not often that we would review the talk show appearance of  a star so recently.  But in the case of Brendan Fraser, he has spent the Summer of ‘08 is the desirable position of having to promote two potential blockbusters released within 30 days of each other.  As I was admittedly critical of his early Summer appearances, I thought it fair to give him another look.  Unfortunately, things haven’t gotten much better.

While he was hawking Journey to the Center of the Earth, I mentioned that Fraser may have taken his movie promotion role a little too seriously, foregoing the fun his personality usually promises.  On his recent outing on The Tonight Show for Mummy 3, he seemed to be over-correcting and trying too hard.  His appearance felt engineered and too rehearsed, with lots of props and plenty of energy, but little genuine connection between him and Jay and even less with the audience.

Things did not get off to a promising start.  There’s an old adage in show business: never work with animals or small children.  Now, if you’d think if anyone could handle this situation, you’d think it would be Brendan Fraser with his vast experience of working with animate and inanimate objects.  Yet he apparently met his match as his appearance was preceded by a contingent of animals that included a woodpecker, jungle cat, raccoons and a massive anteater, and every one of them seemed more at ease in the Guest Seat than Fraser did.

He started out promisingly, trotting through the curtains and acknowledging the band, the audience and even a hey-howdy gesture right into the camera.  But even when he launched into his own animal-related escapades, he seemed curiously forced, with a hint of flop sweat.

What would have helped?  Maybe a touch of the dry humor he exhibited in the first Mummy movie, the kind of wry self-composure that serves the likes of George Clooney and Gillian Anderson so well when they hit the talk show circuit.  Even the action clip from The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor felt full of frenzy rather than fun.  Fraser introduced it with “As you know, I work with animals frequently…”  Maybe they should have kept the anteater on past the commercial!

Brendan Fraser was making the rounds promoting Journey to the Center of the Earth and he takes his job very seriously.  Maybe just a bit too seriously.  Not a lot of small talk, no “how has your summer been so far” chit chat, just right to the task at hand – the movie.
Now, Fraser is attractive and personable enough so that’s ok, I guess, and on this film in recognition of the fact that no actor has probably had so much experience with special effects as Fraser, he was accorded an Executive Producer credit for the first time, so he may feel a little added “suit-like” responsibility,  but you can’t help but get the feeling that his “passion” for the project may be just slightly getting in the way of the fun.  He did make one irresistible offer when he started talking about his second summer blockbuster release The Mummy:  Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, he was willing to guarantee that if viewers didn’t love Journey he’d give them a discount on The Mummy.  (Send your emails, cards and letters to…)

Fraser did finally have a bit of fun at the end of the interview, by walking around in a bright red pair of high heels in honor of Kelly Ripa’s first High Heel-a-Thon.
Nothing monumental here, just good, solid promoting.

Just keep it a little lighter here Brendan and we’ll be happy to take your word that your pics are well worth the price of admission and we won’t wait for the DVD.