the "aw shucks" smile

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

I watched P.S., I Love You Sunday night. The premise is Hilary Swank's husband dies, and, unbeknownst to her, he arranged to have a series of letters sent to her after his death.

That's pretty creepy, but what really bothered me was that every guy had that damned "Aw, Shucks" smile plastered on his face.

You know the one: head bowed, eyes looking up, grin toothy, and eyebrows playfully arched. It's the kind of look a lounge singer gives a hostile audience or conman gives his mark, but for some reason it's become very popular among handsome, dark-haired, scruffy, brogue-ish men. Bonus points if the guy's wearing jeans and a t-shirt and plays the guitar.

The idea behind it is to convey humility, but really it just makes everyone around the person wonder what the Hell he's up to.

Real men, like Harrison Ford or Batman or Judge Joe Brown, wouldn't be caught dead wearing it. In fact, the only guy who's ever flashed it without being asked to hand in his man card was George C. Scott in The Hustler...and he died years later.

So I can't recommend the movie.