Hollywood is perhaps best understood as a fancier version of professional wrestling. And in Hollywood, like in professional wrestling, there’s a whole coterie of relatively bland guys that the industry is trying to "put over"—that is, make audiences care about and cheer for them to succeed. Sam Worthington and Jai Courtney, for instance, are actors without anything resembling star power or charisma. Hollywood, for years, has tried to make them "a thing."
Ryan Reynolds is sometimes lumped in with this category of actor (see this piece, for example), and it’s always irked me. Unlike the other folks in this realm, Reynolds has generally struck me as genuinely charming. And, sure, smarmy. But it’s a sort of charming smarm, or smarmy charm. "Schmarm," if you will. Ryan...