People have two reactions to Sean Penn: 1) he's a great actor, but he's a hothead Chavez-suckup, or 2) he's a hothead Chavez-suckup, but he's a great actor. It's one or the other with this guy! At least we can agree on a provable fact: Spicoli is on probation.
It's not the first time; he did a month in stir in '87 for duking a photog.
You may not like the off-screen Penn, but that doesn't mean the fellow deserves to hear a half-doezen camera motors whirr every time he peeks through the curtains. Yes, he chose a semi-public life. But it's entirely possible we could live without pictures of Sean Penn crossing the street or taking out his garbage. Some say the paparazzi - Italian for "noisy leech" - are a necessary part of the media environment, because without them we would have no idea if Lindsay Lohan fell on her nose while wobbling out of a club at 4 AM. We would have to go entirely on guesswork based on previously accumulated evidence.
Scary, yes, but perhaps worth trying, for everyone's sake.
Here's the assault. Or a preview of his upcoming film, "The Angriest Field-Goal Kicker In the World."
