Stars, when they reach the end of their lives, collapse into incredibly dense objects called "black holes," from which no light emerges; anything that falls into their gravitational well seems to hang on the edge of the "event horizon" forever, but are actually sucked into the depths and crushed. So if you find yourself at a bar next to Mel Gibson or Tom Cruise, you might want to edge your chair in the opposite direction:
Mel's role in "The Beaver" consists of a guy who can only speak through a medium-sized, flat-tailed rodent. Sounds fascinating. EW is speculating that his recent high-profile bad publicity is career poison, but a long view might suggest he could still direct. Cruise, on the other hand, has no such second job on which to fall back. Speaking of falling:
Maybe. Perhaps the problem was the movie itself, which looked like another interchangeable CGI of implausible scenarios + standard Cruise role + chemistry-free romance with Cameron Diaz. Wouldn't count him out entirely. They said the same thing about another 80s star, Eddie Murphy, and he's still making wildly successful movies. Sure, he plays a talking donkey, but don't think they're thinking about "Pluto Nash 2" as we speak.
