Very valid points by all. I guess I would be said stem from the school of the fence sitter. While Sandler has held a special place in my heart since his old SNL days, his foray into less slapstick oriented entertainment, namely "Anger Management" and "Punch Drunk Love." has really impressed me. Not to say that I consider him a true thespian, at this point he is more of a work in progress, and from the sounds of his withdrawal to work on his comedy cd, I would suggest that there is still quite some work to be done before his transition could be said to be complete. That being said, I think Jamie Foxx will be able to do just as good, if not better, a performance as Max. His recent performances in "Any Given Sunday," and of course "Ali" have really opened up my appreciation for him. While Willie Beeman(sp) wasn't the most demanding of roles, it certainly showed his ability to take on a non-comedic lead role while playing up against a legend, Pacino. What really revealed how dynamic he was though was of course "Ali," where his crack addicted balding character stole the show in my opinion and gave Will Smith the palpable energy to lend a convincing human edge to his dialogues. I am thoroughly looking forward to this film and am even more excited because two of my favourite actors are taking the reigns. Kilmer and Cruise need an excuse to work together, I mean come on Top Gun was a generational icon of manhood. "Heat" in my humble opinion was one of the best films of the 90's, chiefly thanks to Pacino, Kilmer, Sizemore and De Niro. What I'm really trying to say is that Kilmer+Cruise+Foxx/Mann=Oh yeah.
P.S Willow was the single most inspiring film of my pre-formative years, and Kilmer was the first actor I wanted to emulate.
