Sometimes, a guy can find himself victimized by a barber who either doesn't have a clue - or has a sick sense of humor instead.



Most of us have suffered through the indignity of the "Haircut from Hell." The good thing about it is: you wait it out; your hair grows out, and your grooming crisis passes. You, and everyone who had the good taste to point and laugh at you, will forget it ever happened.

Pity, then, the Hollywood Actor who appears in a blockbuster film with his own "Haircut from Hell." He can never forget about it. Not only has it been captured for all eternity, but audiences will be able to see it magnified a hundred times over on the big screen. It's like having a pimple the size of Cuba on your forehead.

For example, remember Javier Bardem and his recent Oscar-winning turn in No Country for Old Men. That pageboy haircut on a soulless serial killer? Really? Yes, we admired how he took care of business, but he must have won that Academy Award for actually still being creepy despite looking like a middle-aged Buster Brown.

Let's talk about a couple of other cinematic killers with throwback hair - Samuel Jackson and John Travolta in another Oscar-winner, Pulp Fiction. It's a testament to both their talents that they come across as the coolest guys in the room - despite Jackson looking more like the original '70's "Shaft" than he did when he made the remake, and Travolta looking like Liv Tyler after swimming class. Again, it's easy to be professional hit men when your victims are so taken aback by your horrible hairstyles that they're too stunned to run. The real assassins here are the barbers involved.

Then there's another fun screen couple whose exploits were a bit on the lighter side - Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels in Dumb and Dumber. At least their haircuts were slightly justified by the fact that they were supposed to be stupid. Nevertheless, two hours of Carrey looking like Moe from The Three Stooges and Daniels looking like one of the dogs he's supposed to be taking care of is a lot to ask.

Finally, there's one of the all-time modern movie superstars - Tom Cruise, who, admittedly, isn't as handsome as he used to be. You probably think his star began to fall when he started the new Olympic sport of "couch-jumping" on Oprah's show. We have a different theory. We think it started with his hairdo in the movie, "Magnolia."

It's not one of his more widely-seen movies - and he actually played a supporting part - but for those of you used to the standard Tom Cruise Top Gun haircut, you'll be startled to see the girly-man hairstyling in this offbeat flick. Frankly, it made us think he was a great candidate to play Lois Lane if they ever make another Superman movie. Cruise might have known what he was doing, however - because, once again, something about having the guts to sport the worst possible hair for a part, convinced the movie Gods to reward the actor with an Oscar nomination.

We're being a little cruel here - obviously, all these extreme hair styles were purposely created to enhance the specific parts the actors were playing. And in all cases, these superstars were handsomely rewarded for these specific parts with either Oscar recognition or bigger career opportunities. The wrong haircut made the right difference for them.

But you're not after an Academy Award when you step into the barber shop - you're after the best possible haircut.

P.S. Cruise recently did it again playing a big Hollywood producer in the Ben Stiller comedy Tropic Thunder. Hope he gets something for that role. It's work watching just for his scenes.

Copyright (c) 2008 Kennedy's All-American Club