Norah Jones is set to make her film debut, in Wong Kar-wai’s My Blueberry Nights. The movie looks trippy (no surprise there; see 2046), but I just hope Norah Jones knows what she’s doing. There’s nothing worse than a crossover attempt that doesn’t take — singers who can’t act, actors who can’t sing, and all us poor suckers who shell out money to watch or hear them try anyway.
Sometimes it works, of course: Courtney Love was stellar in The People vs. Larry Flynt, but then Julie Johnson came along and made me believe in censorship again. And Gina Gershon‘s acting was passable in Prey for Rock ‘n’ Roll (and downright hot in Bound), but she never should have taken her act on the road. Maybe it’s a lesbian/lesbian-ish movie curse? Nah: David Bowie was just fine in The Hunger. And Barbra Streisand was way better than fine in Yentl.
But if Bowie and Streisand are the paragons, maybe it comes down to the kind of show the star usually puts on — no matter what the medium. That makes me nervous for Norah, and even more excited for Dreamgirls: Jennifer Hudson rocked that American Idol stage. But I am telling you, I am not going anywhere near Gwyneth Paltrow‘s album — if her (lack of an) ear for accents is any indication, it’ll be about as memorable as Lisa Whelchel‘s 1984 Christian pop album. Remember that pink and green album cover, and how perfect her ’80s hair was? Not that I owned a copy of it or anything, or still remember all the words to “Good Girl.” “The girls all ask her ‘why so straight?’ / the boys aren’t asking for a date. / Be a good girl / Why be a good girl?”
