Will Smith and Margot Robbie most certainly look good together on the big screen in “Focus.”
Will Smith and Margot Robbie, together or not. (From syracusenewtimes.com)
Why I even forgave Hollywood for matching up love leads that have a 21-year-old age difference, one of the great thorns in my side as I watch movies for my weekly Monday blog on the Syracuse New Times site.
You can read what I thought of “Focus” by clicking the link below.
http://www.syracusenewtimes.com/focus-is-a-beautiful-guessing-game/
It’s a drama that keeps you guessing about whether or not the principal players are in in for love or in it for the cash and material things they can shake down from other people.
What I’m trying to figure out is what you think about the Hollywood age difference pattern. Why is the male lead going to be nearing 50 and his female counterpart going to be approaching 25? Or further apart?
Do you think that Hollywood is convinced that movie goers need older male stars matched with younger female characters for box office draw? What do you think about the usual age gap? Would you consider it any differently if it were a female lead nearing 50 matched with a male love interest nearing 25 or further apart?
Mark Bialczak 
I do not like the age gap, and the older I get, the less I like it! 😦 I keep meeting men my own age or older that want to date women my daughter’s age, and it disgusts me.
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That would frighten me, Rachel. What would they have in common to talk about from the start?
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That’s exactly what I think, too. Sadly, I guess talking is not part of what they’re interested in.
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Very sadly. Ouch.
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Not sure why there’s an age difference either, Chum. I thought it was more about the believability of the two and their connection. What do I know. 🙂
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You know plenty, Aud. 🙂
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♡
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The gap doesn’t bother me unless it is noticeable and ridiculous. With Mr. Will Smith, I wouldn’t notice. I want to see the actors have something between them. If it’s not there, it’s going to show.
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You wouldn’t notice it in this one, my buddy Colleen. He’s good, she’s good. It was good!
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I don’t know about her….but I would say he is good. 😀
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Yes you would, MBC.
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😉
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it’s standard in hollywood, and pretty much accepted throughout the world. the double standard continues though, when the reverse situation occurs, it is talked about, scandalized a bit, and comments like, ‘it will never last,’ abound. that being said, they are both beautiful people and that is often what the audience wants to see, though i am in awe of the acting chops of the older actresses, they have life experience and grit, and it shows. it must be very frustrating for them – p.s. mg is 3 months and 1 day older than i am, so i guess we don’t qualify as a scandal.)
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You and mg are in the comfort level, Beth. I like it! 🙂 Way better than the Hollywood stereotypes.
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I did hear Will say that he was concerned about the age difference, but that they had chemistry that you can’t fake. But still ew to me. I married someone a week older because I don’t want one of us to have experienced an entire decade, much less two, that we’d have to explain to each other. If she had been over 200 lbs, he wouldn’t have done the role. It only happens if the girl is hot.
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I agree that the physicality was the determining factor out there in LA-LA land, Kerbey. Karen and I are just 22 months difference. Same points of reference.
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Do you think it annoys ‘older’ female leads? In ‘singing in the rain’ I think there is a twenty year age gap between Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds? – so nothing new then.
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I think it annoys older women can no longer get parts, that’s for sure, Rachel. And that’s not right at all.
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age discrimination is never good
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Right, Rachel!
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There’s apparently a formula for this, or so I’ve been led to believe. You take the man’s age, divide by half, add 6. If the woman’s age is below that number, he is making a fool of himself. Will Smith is 46, the dang fool.
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By your formula, he’s right on the money, I guess. But math is not my strongest point, Ross. Interesting formula, that is. Thanks for adding your x and y, sir.
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Isn’t that a prerequisite now… an age gap? I have only seen the previews and the sexual tension is high between them. I think it speaks to women looking for more maturity in their men (when they are the same age, I mean) and has become a norm. Then, I look at the fact that the older man wants a younger woman… 😀
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Thanks, Colleen. I’m an older man to my dear wife Karen. But a couple years. Not a gap, just a hiccup. 🙂 She’s my younger woman.
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I am Ron’s younger woman by 10 years. 😊
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Oh, you are a birdie! 🙂
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I’m something alright! LOL!
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This tendency drives me nuts, mostly because it’s jarring and has no relevance to my real life. It’s rare that I meet a young woman in whom I have any interest beyond the aesthetic or a general “she’s nice,” or “she’s sweet.” I’m 48 and two decades coupled to a woman I adore–I notice beauty, I revel in the female form, but I just don’t consider women (real or fictional) as potential sexual partners as I did when I was younger. I don’t even know who Margot Robbie is–just what the hell would I talk about with a person who hails from so far across a gaping cultural and experiential chasm? I believe Hollywood pairs these young chicks up with geezers my age to indulge masculine fancy, but also because the bean-counters who determine casting have zero faith in mature women. Men in Hollywood have much longer careers than women, who are largely discarded after 30, and that sucks because it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. The studios say mature women can’t carry movies, but they don’t cast age-appropriate women in many roles that allow them to nurture and sustain careers.
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Excellent points all around, real life-wise and Hollywood-side, Chuck. Thank you!
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Well, for one thing, Will Smith really doesn’t look like he’s pushing 50, but I have seen some movies where there are age gaps in the characters and it is almost always a younger woman. When this is not worked into the plot, it really puts me off. Anyway, you seemed to have liked the movie. I saw an ad for it a couple of days ago with a pic of Smith an Robbie and thought it was a sunglass ad at first!
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He has preserved well, and yes, I liked the movie. They have good chemistry, so this time, the age gap was not noticeable or bothersome like in some movies, Marissa. I guess that are so beautiful together that it could be a sunglasses commercial. You have a point there.
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Bro, Will Smith could still get the 25 year old if he was 100. He just has IT, whatever it is. When everything else is gone, they’ll be after his money. But that is the trend everywhere now–young women want older men. Don’t know why and frankly don’t really care. I’m a cougar and want the young, good looking ones with the money now–NOT. No need to parallel park any more, so that takes care of my need for a man. Oh, wait, we’re talking about a movie here aren’t we. I don’t go to movies, so I really can’t comment on that.
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You are a fun one, Angie. Will does have IT. Even I can see that!
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Maybe Hollywood producers are trying to appeal to the demographic which most frequently goes to the movies, i.e., younger people. But then you can think back to smash hits like “Something’s Gotta Give” and it shows that an older woman, Diane Keaton in this case, can certainly draw ’em in too.
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Yes, she can, Barbara. So it cuts both ways.
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so you liked the movie, then? That’s the general impression I got from your review, but still wasn’t sure at the end. Will Smith is another favorite of mine–seems like a sensible guy and of course talented. What a career–from fresh prince to a man in black to this now. The age gap is strange, I suppose. But in Hollywood, anything is possible.
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Yes, I liked the movie. And not only in Hollywood, but in life, too, these age gaps happen, sometimes, Liz. Sometimes in Hollywood, though, I feel like they are exploiting us with it, and it’s just contrived. This pairing looked and felt natural.
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For the love of everything we encounter, those gender specific age gaps are all around us!
I can feel this on a personal (and perhaps exaggerated) level, because my ex fell in love with somebody who was more than 25 years younger.
What’s always obvious to me is that you, Mark, write out of love for movies (and other things, too).
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Thanks for pitching in, Ann. You had to be practice what your blog preaches with your ex. You’re good, my friend. And thanks for your kind words about my diverse writing ways. 🙂
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