Shia LaBeouf. Actor. Performance artist. Meme in human form.
Multidisciplinary plagiarist. Jack of all trades, master of none, not even
himself. The man I’ve been calling ‘Shia LaBullshitArtist’ for as long as this
blog has existed, out of respect for Daniel Clowes, the Anomalies crew, and
pretty much everyone else Shia has ripped off over the course of his career. Is
it clear enough yet that I don’t exactly have the highest opinion of this guy
as a creative?
Or, at least, I didn’t use to. Between his place as the lead
actor in the earlier Michael Bay Transformers movies, the way Hollywood kept
trying to push for him as the next big thing with little success, and how much
he basically imploded over the course of the 2010’s, he’s pretty much secured his place
as everyone’s favourite punching bag. But after seeing him in The Peanut Butter Falcon, in a performance so fucking resonant that articulating my gratitude
resulted in some of my best critical work to date, I’m more willing than ever
to give the guy his fair due. And once I get into the contents of his latest,
hopefully you’ll see why.
