The Oh Yeah Phenomenon

Quick! Without cheating, name me three movies Sharon Stone has starred in. And you can only use movies with the words “basic” and “instinct” in it once.

It occurred to me that as much as I tried to jog my memory, I couldn’t do this. I looked her up and then it came flooding back to me. (But in all fairness, she hadn’t been in very many GOOD movies.) Sharon Stone is one of those people. Actors who you know by name but you couldn't name three movies they've been in. Donald Sutherland, Kyra Sedgwick, Dennis Quaid, Vincent D'Onofrio are a few more that spring to mind. Do you even realize that in 2004 Dennis Quaid was in four movies? These where bigger than normal movies and he had top billing. I guess the real problem is that after a year or so, no one remembers the movie and they really don't remember people in it. So in our heads the question eventually becomes, what HAS Dennis Quaid done lately? (At least for the movie geek at heart.)

Sure, she's pretty hot (and not just for someone her age), but what the hell has she been in?
(The photograph of Sharon Stone is by Rita Molnár and is available under a Creative Commons License.)

I’m calling this situation the “oh yeah” phenomenon. The “oh yeah” comes from having the information in front of you and finally remembering what you forgot. Without realizing it, it's popped out of your mouth. Like when my boyfriend somehow forgot Clive Owen was in the movie Sin City. (Especially since he's his favorite character in the movie.)

Part of this phenomenon is you forget the obvious movies people were and in and search the back of your mind for some obscure cameo they were in. The other day I was watching The Princess Bride with my mother and she kept saying over and over again that she recognized Buttercup from some movie but just couldn't remember it. I started to spout off some movies like Message in a Bottle, She's So Lovely, White Oleander but none rang a bell for her. Finally after crying uncle I looked her up. Remember that really popular Tom Hanks movie made about ten years ago that grossed like half a billion dollars (back when that was still impressive) and won a boat load of Academy Awards? Yeah I forgot that she was in that too.

I have found that the most likely candidate that causes this phenomenon has found their niche in other forms of Hollywood, but has also been in movies. Some have found their place in TV or doing voice over work. In general their movie spots just don't click.

Forget the obvious people where the name is bigger than the film: The Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, and that Clooney guy. This might work in the opposite sense. You know the name but can’t remember what they were in that made them so famous. Or you get flustered by the number of movies they were in and then don’t know where to start and draw a blank.

And forget about the actors that I mention that you only pretend to know who I mean and then scramble to imdb to find out who they are. Example: Alan Rickman, Alan Ruck, Alan Tyduk, or Alan Cummings (sense a theme going on?).

Some people you can instantly associate with a movie. Example: Jessica Simpson and The Dukes of Hazzard and Robert Patrick from T2. Let's face it, Harrison Ford is Harrison Ford, but Mark Hamill has a few more blockbusters to make before he sheds that whole Luke Skywalker thing. I do, however, give him extra points for being the voice of the Joker in the Batman cartoons.

These three examples do not count as part of this phenomenon. Don’t be fooled.

Don’t believe me? Just as a test: Name me three movies with Julianne Moore. When you’ve given up click here and scan the page. It may not come out of your mouth, but when you have that “oh yeah” moment, then you’ll know I’m not as crazy as I sound.