It's good to NOT be a serious actor

Althought I didn't think Surviving Christmas was that great, it did have some funny points. It would've been a better renter than going to see it in the theater.
All differences of opinions aside on that topic, I agree with you about seeing actors move from the films that launched their careers to churning out "Academy" crap just to stroke their egos. Tom Cruise was the first person I thought of when I read your post. And after reading his RollingStone interview from a few months ago (when he was out stumping for Collateral), I'm reassured in my convictions that the man has utterly lost his mind and become a product of Hollywood.
You could sort of say the same for Nicole Kidman; however, I have a little more respect for her because she's at least willing to take some risks on films that may not have great commercial success but are useful narrations on social issues (Dogville, The Human Stain, etc).
Tom Hanks is another actor that I used to think of along the same lines as Tom Cruise. In fact, my friends and I use the word "ACtor" (with an accent on the AC) in snobby upperclass accents to emphasize that the person in question couldn't be bothered to remember that they once starred in a movie called Days of Thunder, or You've Got Mail. I guess he's got a little more credibility in my eyes however, because he at least seems as if he's at least grounded in reality, unlike Cruise. Also, he's kind of returned to doing movies that might appeal to anyone (like the The Polar Express & Toy Story-because most kids probably won't know who Tom Hanks is), even if they have the potential to be commercial successes, it's because of their creative stories, and not their star-wattage.
As much as Ben Affleck nasueated the world during the whole Bennifer thing, I think he's emerged from it a better person. And cpt head is right that Affleck hasn't forgotten his roots. I don't think he's that great of an actor, and I definitely didn't think his work in Good Will Hunting was dramatic-ly groundbreaking, but I do think that he has a way of bringing some of his irresistible, well, Affleck-ish-ness to a role. He is brilliant in Kevin Smith's movies (sp. Chasing Amy); so maybe he should just stick with parts that are written for him. Smith has a way of capturing that charm and harnessing its power.
I realize that I've mostly rambled on here, but hopefully everyone will catch my drift.

That's actually why I started to lighten up on Hanks-because while I didn't like the LadyKillers AT ALL, I can respect him for making it because it was something completely different from what he's ever done. And I can also respect the incredible talent it took to transform himself into that role, as well as the role he played in the Terminal, which IMHO, was vastly overlooked by everyone.

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