Spotlight: Charlie Hunnam

Who am I to question the machinations of the gods? Their existence, sure; their machinations, never. So I can only sit back and enjoy this perfect storm of hunky British actor Hunnam, perhaps sparing a moment or two to consider the lazy overuse of the phrase "perfect storm" in the media. Here's how it breaks down:

Hunnam stars in one of my favorite current shows, Sons of Anarchy, which will be wrapping up its third season tonight--Boom! Instantly dating this post! In the time-honored tradition of half of Hollywood, he is in full American accent mode as a brooding biker Jax Teller. I suppose it helps that no one knows what an "American" sounds like, but really it's a non-issue here. In fact, when I first realized back in Season 1 where I had seen Hunnam before, I was shocked that it was as English pretty boy Lloyd Haythe in Judd Apatow's dead-on early millennium college sitcom, Undeclared.

I was a big fan of the show when it aired and for that reason alone wasn't surprised when it followed Apatow's previous show, Freaks and Geeks, to cancellation heaven. And I haven't seen it since. Then IFC goes and not only airs the full run of F and G, but--you know where I'm going with this, don't you--Undeclared. Score! Really, I was excited. Still am as it's currently airing Friday nights at 11 & 11:30. And it still holds up. Maybe it's nostalgia talking or maybe the college experience is a universal constant.

The third Hunnam front hit when I recently watched his 2004 film, Green Street Hooligans. Here we have cute little Elijah Wood going to England and joining his brother-in-law's West Ham football firm. For you Budweiser-swilling Americans, West Ham is a "soccer" team and its firm is basically a gang of violent supporters. You know, hooligans (the original Brit version is just called Green Street). Playing against type (he was best known at the time for his roles in Nicholas Nickleby and Queer as Folk), Hunnam shows the tough guy cred that would lead to his casting in Sons. The movie is good, good and violent at times (director Lexi Alexander--a woman!--would go on to make  2008's Punisher: War Zone), though the end resorts to cheap, and wholly unnecessary, emotional cliches. Ok, one other nit to pick: there's a scene early on where Wood is arguing the merits of baseball using the fact that "the Red Sox have a pitcher who can throw 90 MPH." In the filmmakers' defense, they were foreigners. In Elijah Wood's defense, he's Elijah Wood.

But where does it rank on the list of soccer movies? Tough call. While it is ostensibly about soccer, there is very little actual sport in the film. I'll have to get back to you on this one.

As for Hunnam, he's done some good work and is doing some very good work on Sons. It's all going to come down to how producers see him and what direction he wants to take his career. He has the looks and has shown the range to make him someone to watch.