Give me back the old Tom Cruise

Damage control
Is it fair to expect Cruise to behave “normal”? When you’re surrounded by yes-men telling you that every decision you make is correct — and have the millions to prove it — how could you possibly be expected to be normal? Just ask Michael Jackson.

Perhaps what’s disturbing to fans is that for so long Cruise was the ultimate nice guy. My sister has had a crush on him since we were both teenagers. There was something sort of innocuous and asexual about him — the safe guy to inhabit your teen daughters’ fantasies. Except for those pesky rumors that he was gay, he seemed to have almost no baggage — nothing you had to drag into the theater with you when you went to see one of his films.

Some speculate that if the Holmes/Cruise relationship is just a publicity stunt, it’s a way for the 42-year-old Cruise to connect with younger fans. And yet, that doesn’t mesh with the intensity of Cruise’s personality. I get the sense that Cruise acts based on a sincere belief — that it's the only way he knows how to behave. Only Holmes, Kidman, Mimi Rogers and Penelope Cruz know the truth about Cruise’s personal life — and they’re not telling. As for it being a publicity stunt, in the past 10 years, he’s only made two films that haven’t grossed more than $100 million in the U.S. — “Magnolia” and “Eyes Wide Shut.” So why use such extreme measures now to connect to fans? Tom Cruise doesn’t have to will fans into the theater, they’re already coming — especially when Steven Spielberg is at the helm.

It’s hard to say whether Cruise’s outbursts will have a negative effect on his career. Although I shake my head every time he opens his mouth these days, I still want to see “War of the Worlds.” Yet, I’ll never quite be able to see Cruise the same way. It will take more than Cruise’s power of positive thinking to bring back the nice guy with the megawatt smile. Now, he’s the zealot who jumps on Oprah’s couch like a love-crazed monkey and lectures America about our nasty pharmaceutical habits. Can I please have back Joel Goodsen now?

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