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HThings can change quickly in Hollywood. One day you’re one of the most popular actors in the world, the next you’re a poster child for everything bad and cheap in an industry. It can give you whiplash – just ask Jack Black.

Black, the spicy and eccentric star of School of Rock And Kung Fu Pandahas released the first trailer for A Minecraft movie. In the film, a big-budget adaptation of the video game juggernaut of the same name, Black plays a character named “Minecraft Steve” – ​​and tries to impose his outsized personality on an originally characterless avatar. It’s fair to say that people did not have it. Reactions on social media were numerous and scathing, with one widely shared tweet saying: “I think as a society we need to accept that Jack Black is now a Chris Pratt.” (Jurassic World Star Pratt is an actor synonymous with cheesy blockbuster trash, a performer whose popularity ratings would make a seasoned politician run for the post of spin doctor.)

A Minecraft movie is not the only current blemish against Black’s name: only a few weeks ago he lent his name and voice Borderlandanother bland video game adaptation that some have called the worst movie of the year. Just before that, we had his unfortunate break with his Tenacious D bandmate Kyle Gass: After Gass made a joke about the attempted assassination of Donald Trump during one of the band’s live performances, Black seemingly ended their decades-long collaboration and canceled the band’s tour midway through. (He has since hinted that there might be a reunion, but the reputational damage was done – over a controversy that would otherwise have blown over in days.) Black’s reputation has never been lower. But for all his admirable quirks as an actor, this fall from grace (dare we call it the Black Death?) has been a long time in the making.

The fact is that Black always walked a fine line when it came to the audience’s favor. Even his best performances – School of Rock as a universally acknowledged high point – walked the line between greatness and irritation, between charming effervescence and unbearable “look at me”-ism. Black’s first notable role was in the romantic comedy about music nerds High fidelitystole scenes as an obnoxious record store salesman. Then, when School of RockIn Dewey Finn, a failed wannabe rock star turned substitute teacher, Black hardened his screen persona, that of an over-enthusiastic kid with manic theatrics. But even in his prime, Black was never particularly picky about the projects he put his name to. School of Rock is one of the poorly received films like Flat neck, Nacho Libre, The holidays, Year OneAnd Gulliver’s Travels in Black’s earlier work. Over the years he increasingly devoted himself to child-friendly studio adaptations – Goose fleshthe Jumanji remakes, The Super Mario Bros. Movie and a handful Kung Fu Panda Sequels. It is not like Borderland And Minecraft represent neither a cheapening of its brand nor a natural continuation of it.

That’s a shame, in part because Black has long been an unproblematic and likably unconventional antithesis to the usual Hollywood star mold. You don’t see many stars spend hours creating endearingly crude video game content, as Black did for years on his now-dormant YouTube channel JablinskiGames. (To some extent, his penchant for terrible video game movies can be attributed to a genuine love of the source material.) He’s also, to his credit, one of the few taller actors to have escaped Hollywood’s body-size pigeonholes, taking on roles in which his looks are rarely a punchline or a joke.

But above all it is a shame, because somewhere in Black’s cartoonish excesses lies an actor with real and subtle talent. In Richard Linklater’s 2011 true-crime dramedy Berniewe got a glimpse into the career that Black might have pursued in an alternate reality: his portrayal of an effeminate out-of-town hustler who befriends and murders curmudgeonly senior citizen Shirley MacLaine was masterful and uncharacteristically transformative. He has tried to spread his wings elsewhere – a low-key dramatic turn in Peter Jackson’s King Konga nuanced speaking role in Richard Linklater’s Apollo 10½: A childhood in the space age – But Bernie is the strongest proof of how much Black has to offer. But that was over a decade ago. Lately, Black’s name only conjures up images of him standing in front of a bright Borderland Poster, or of him next to Lizzo in The Mandalorian – a sad cameo that many considered the uneasy low point of the Star Wars spin-off.

The good news for Black is that it’s not over yet. In Hollywood, you’re always just one comeback away from audience affection. He has the talent to bounce back and, despite the social media backlash, a lot of public goodwill that could still be unlocked. For now, though, it’s clear that something has to change – or the phrase “a Jack Black movie” will become cinema’s direst warning sign.

“A Minecraft Movie” will be in cinemas next year