Richard Attenborough tells the story of the great character actor Edmund Gwenn - trivia buffs should note that both men played Santa Claus in separate versions of Miracle on 34th Street. Anyway Gwenn was on his deathbed and the family were gathering round to pay their respects. Among them was his small granddaughter who, when it was explained to her what has happening, had a question. 'Grandpa' she asked. 'Is dying difficult?' Gwenn thought for a moment before replying. 'No sweetheart,' he said. 'Dying is easy, comedy is difficult.'
And if you needed any proof of that you only have to look at Sandra Bullock's Best Actress Oscar for The Blind Side. When she went up to receive the trophy Bullock wondered aloud 'Did I earn this or did I just wear you down?' It's a nice self-deprecating line but there is more than a grain of truth in it.
Bullock is a gifted comedienne. She has been doing excellent work for years but because it was in films such as Demolition Man, Speed, While Y0u Were Sleeping, and Miss Congeniality - a seriously under rated performance - it attracted no attention whatsoever. However she does a drama and suddenly she is a contender; it was the same when she appeared in the ensemble cast of Crash.
Not having seen The Blind Side I may be doing Bullock a disservice but I'm guessing it is not a performance to make Meryl Streep consider her future career options. I'm sure it is a fine, effective performance but I am equally sure she has done better. It's just that comedy exists, along with a number of other genres, on the Academy's blind side. Perhaps the Academy should remember what Edmund Gwenn said and widen its horizons in future.
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