Columbia Pictures
Celebrities, they’re just like us. You can irrationally hate them, like you do that jerk Sharon down the street. Other times, though, that revulsion comes from someplace pure, someplace honest, someplace Katherine Heigl. Every review of her new NBC show, State of Affairs, which premiered last night to less than stellar reviews and likely indifferent ratings, revolved around this being her “comeback,” how she bottomed out with Zyzzyxxxxzyyyzzxzxxzz Road, then proceeded to make a dozen more crappy movies, but now she’s back on top, baby.
Not so much. State of Affairs isn’t going to be the show that makes people have a positive association with Heigl. Let’s revisit some of the reasons that got us here.
1. Heigl vs. Shonda Rhimes/Grey’s Anatomy
ABC
Where to begin? Maybe when she told David Letterman, “Our first day back [at Grey’s] was Wednesday, and it was — I’m going to keep saying this because I hope it embarrasses them — a 17-hour day, which I think is cruel and mean”? Or when she explained she wasn’t submitting herself for an Emmy nomination, because she “did not feel I was given the material…to warrant [it]“? Or when she didn’t show up at her job, which paid her millions of dollars, and was soon released from her contract? Or when Shonda told the Hollywood Reporter, in reference to Scandal being a smooth operation with a tight cast, “There are no Heigls in this situation”?
(Heigl does deserve some credit, though: when Isaiah Washington allegedly called his co-star T.R. Knight a “fag,” she came to Knight’s defense, telling Access Hollywood, “I’m going to be really honest right now, he needs to just not speak in public. Period…I’m not okay with it.”)
2. Heigl vs. Knocked Up
Universal Pictures
Even Heigl haters like one thing she’s in: Knocked Up, Judd Apatow’s movie about a fun-loving fat guy who impregnates a shrill skinny girl, or in the words of a much-discussed Vanity Fair profile on Heigl, “an underlying [misogynistic film] that made female characters into unappealing caricatures while romanticizing immature and irresponsible male behavior.” Here’s her review of it:
“It was a little sexist,” she says. “It paints the women as shrews, as humorless and uptight, and it paints the men as lovable, goofy, fun-loving guys. It exaggerated the characters, and I had a hard time with it, on some days. I’m playing such a bitch; why is she being such a killjoy? Why is this how you’re portraying women? Ninety-eight percent of the time it was an amazing experience, but it was hard for me to love the movie.” (Via)
She’s not wrong, and if she had gone on to make better movies, her criticisms might have been taken seriously. Instead, Heigl starred in 27 Dresses, The Ugly Truth, Killers, Life As We Know It, New Year’s Eve, One for the Money, and The Big Wedding. Offensive rom-coms, all of them.
3. Heigl vs. Good Taste
Twentieth Century Fox
Did you see the films I just listed? Again, they’re: 27 Dresses, The Ugly Truth, Killers, Life As We Know It, New Year’s Eve, One for the Money, and The Big Wedding. Here’s a fun image!
IMGUR
Honestly, Under Siege 2: Dark Territory might be her second best movie.