Vince Vaughn + Fat

I recently saw the preview for whatever wacky, unbearable holiday-themed rom-com Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn are in this season. You know, the one where someone gets a fruit cake in the eye and an obnoxious kid who swears kicks Vince Vaughn's shin hahaha.

Anyway, it brought to mind that Hollywood phenomenon of actors aging, gaining weight, and veering into middle-aged, metabolism-slowing bloat, and, overall, just not being groomed and looking like a truck ran over them. It inevitably happens, and, inevitably, it is ignored. While female actors have to contend with every half pound gained being subjected to a zoom lense and "baby bump" rumors, actors can gain twenty-five pounds and still star as the desirable, romantic lead.

Vince Vaugh is such a good example of this. Sure, he's always seemed like an obnoxious, overindulgent alcoholic cokehead with dubious acting skills, but during, you know, that horrible Swingers movie everyone loved so much, he was pretty foxy. and also when I was thirteen at I saw the unmemorable Clay Pigeons, in which he wears a cowboy hat. Here are some example photos!

And now, the first photo that comes up when "Vince Vaughn + fat" comes up. (In his case, I think the decline of his looks has a lot to do with being a lush):

I was going to post photos of some others, such as Tobey Maguire, Adam Sandler, Tom Hanks, and the like, but I feel I've already used my picture quota posting photos of hot young Vince Vaughn. Another excellent example is Leonardo DiCaprio, who is a terrible actor and obviously coasted to fame on his pretty-boy good looks, (which have been completely lost) but is still considered both a sexy romantic lead and, for some reason, a "Great Actor" cast in "Great Movies" by "Great Directors" like "Martin Scorsese."

I'm certainly not saying that people need to remain slim to be attractive, just that it is completely aggravating how women are held to a superficial standard and a constant level of both dieting and general upkeep that men are not. (Especially when a lot of female stars look a lot more healthy and normal when they gain weight, as opposed to the Jim Belushi-esque nosedive men tend to take.) Reese Witherspoon, for example, is six years younger than Vince Vaughn already, and has obviously dieted extensively to keep up her current physique in the movie, and was often considered too "fat" when she was what is probably her normal weight. She never would be cast as a romantic lead twenty pounds heavier, so why should he? Also, do people even like Vince Vaughn anymore? Doesn't it almost seem like he stopped being famous and became famous again for some reason?