Jennifer Aniston. Photo credit: SpreePiX Berlin

How long has this been going on? Critics question Aniston’s star wattage.

By comparison to her Friends co-stars, Jennifer ‘romcom Queen’ Aniston has knocked the ball out of the park since the hit TV series shuttered in 2004. But gravity is now beginning to pull down hard on the TV heartthrob-turned Hollywood A-Lister. And about time too. That’s the verdict from numerous influential commentators who have loudly questioned her credentials to be what Variety terms a ‘topliner’ – a movie star who can carry a movie by taking the top line on the poster.

The inquisition into her box office bang-for-buck value has been prompted by the failure of her latest vehicle, artificial insemination (yup, you guessed it) rom com The Switch, which opened in a disappointing eighth spot at the US box office this weekend.

ESPN sports journalist Bill Simmons has lead the charge of the ‘Aniston why?’ brigade with a stinging analysis of her dodgy record: “That’s seven years, 11 movies, eight clunkers, one above-average (for her) performance and only two solid box-office successes.” Simmons’ theory is that Aniston has managed to maintain her brand by cultivating a victim image which is lapped up by the tabloids: “No matter how wealthy or famous or good-looking she is, the nuts and bolts of Aniston’s “tragic” story could have happened to anyone: She lost her scummy husband to a seductive co-worker. Maybe it was the worst thing that ever happened to her personally, but professionally? Godsend. She became America’s adorable little victim for seven years until Bullock finally pushed her aside.”
To some, the fact that Aniston ever made the jump from small to big screen is baffling: “When it comes to enduring mysteries,” observed Patrick Goldstein of The Los Angeles Times, “… it’s hard to come up with something more mystifying than how Jennifer Aniston became a movie star … She’s made an almost-unbroken string of forgettable movies that have rarely made a lot of money.”

For sure, it’s been a tough month for Aniston. But she’s also done herself few favours of late. She caused a media storm when she referred to herself as a “like a retard” (for playing dress up at home) on live US TV.