by Cole the Kid Critic, Age 15

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and The Switch both recently bombed at the box office. Why? My theory is that their leads, Michael Cera and Jennifer Aniston, have both been associated with a niche character. Michael Cera is the nerdy/geeky teenager who gets the out of his league girlfriend and Jennifer Aniston is the predictable romantic-comedy type. Getting associated with only one type of character is quite possibly one of the worst things to happen to an A-list star. Now, it’s fine if you’re some E-list actor who needs work and will never really move up the latter, but anything higher is near career poison.

The Switch is full of type-casting from Jennifer Aniston to Jason Bateman to Jeff Goldblum. Jeff Goldblum is one of the best examples of the downfalls of accepting niche roles. During the late 80’s and early 90’s he had everything going for him (The Big Chill, Fly, Jurassic Park) but as time went on he slipped into this consistency of always playing the quirky, eccentric guy which made him slowly slip into obscurity. Michael Cera is also proving my point as that every movie he’s done since Superbad has flopped. The only cure to this is to start stepping outside your comfort zone and do things that are nearly opposite of the type of character they play. Play a mental patient, do a drama, or go for the Oscar: in other words, shatter that image.

Here’s a list of actors who are also in danger of being Anistoned or Cerafied: Robert Downey Jr., Jonah Hill, 2/3 of the Twilight cast, Jack Black, Gerald Butler and Megan Fox.