My Friend the Moviestar

One of my good friends in High School was a guy named Rich Hutchman (James, a regular poster here, also was part of our crowd). Well, after school Rich decided to go into acting even though I don't believe he's gay. He went off to Chicago and slowly started building his credits. I recently got news Rich, now in LA, will be appearing in the soon to be released Ewan McGregor film "The Island." So, at great risk to any friendship Rich and I may still have, and to hopefully prevent this film from being a complete bomb, I will offer a critic of Rich's vast media history, encouraging my 80 readers to view his first appearance in a major film. I haven't included the many commercials he's done, whoring himself for everything from Recycling Cans to dandruff shampoo, but only the shows I personally watched.
Chicago Hope (Robert Bacon): Desperate dad looking for help for his dying son. Rich wept like I hadn't seen since he fell off my moped and melded his leg to the tailpipe. Very nice performance.
NYPD Blue (Billy Garnett): Drawing on vast personal experince he played a mentally handicapped child molestor who get's beat up by the kid from Silver Spoons. Nice performance but not much of a stretch.
CSI (Jeff Pike): Rich has a cameo as a weird neigbor at a crime scene. This is how I picture Rich today. Standing in the street waiting for a neighbor to be murdered hoping it will get his face on the nightly news and get him a commercial for hemeroids.
Yes, Dear: My favorite Rich appearance. Rich played a man at his high school reunion lusting after the girl he had a crush on and dating his own sister (my paraphrase of the episode.) This was pretty unrealistic. Rich didn't have a sister, he dated cousins.
Disney's Phantom of the Megaplex (Shawn MacGibbon): Rich portrayed the theater manager revealed to be the Phantom! He made co-star Micky Rooney look like an old washed up actor. This movie is famous in my household, not for the embarassment it caused the Irish community, but because my kids watched it 8000 times. I will never forgive him for this.

Hey, in all seriousness, congrats Rich on all the success. It's been fun watching you on the screen and makes all who know you feel like we get to live a bit of the "Hollywood Life" (without having to go through the broken relationships, bloody gloves, diseases, and addictions.) Actually, spotting Rich has become one of our families favorite primetime pastimes. It never ceases to bring a smile when I get a call from my Mom or my sister to say, "Did you see Rich on TV last night?"

So look for this face...

at a theatre near you.