This Hollywood Producer Says Sydney Sweeney is 'Not Pretty' and Wonders What Anyone Sees in Her

George Pimentel. Getty Images.

If there's one thing Hollywood loves celebrating, it's the fact that it's one big, wondrous dream factory that makes magic happen and wishes come true on a daily basis before the rest of us normies have gotten out of bed to drudge off to our dull, grey tedious jobs. If there's another thing? It's that Hollywood is not for the faint of heart. It's a tough, pitiless world that will chew you up and spit you out as soon as look at you. A dog-eat-dog existence where the weak are wearing Milk Bone underpants. 

And traditionally, that has gone double for women. Maybe triple. Or octuple. Things might be a little better now. But one has to imagine that for the better part of a century, the movie industry was damned near impossible for female executive to succeed in. So when you realize that someone like Carol Baum (center) became an executive producer on movies all the way back in 1984 and has 34 films on her IMDb - many of them critical and commercial successes - you have to have the utmost respect for her. 

Just don't be surprised if the respect she gets in the industry is not a two way street:

Source - She is one of Hollywood's hottest young rising stars - recently been hailed as evidence for woke culture being in the decline. But now Sydney Sweeney has been fiercely blasted by one of Hollywood's top female producers.   

'She's not pretty, she can't act,' claims Carol Baum, whose films include Father of the Bride and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Baum, speaking with New York Times film critic Janet Maslin before an audience of fans following a screening of her 1988 film Dead Ringers starring Jeremy Irons, held nothing back as she began her critique of the 26-year-old actress.    

'There's an actress who everybody loves now - Sydney Sweeney.

'I don't get Sydney Sweeney. I was watching on the plane Sydney Sweeney's movie because I wanted to watch it,' she says about Anyone But You. …

'I watched this unwatchable movie- sorry to people who love this movie  - [this] romantic comedy where they hate each other.'

Referencing the producing class she teaches at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, Baum added: 'I said to my class, "Explain this girl to me. She's not pretty, she can't act. Why is she so hot?''

This just goes to show that you can take the 70ish year old woman out of high school, but you can't take the high school out of her. You can be one of the most successful females in show business for 40 years. But that doesn't mean you don't have a little Regina George in you.

Look, no one's arguing Sydney Sweeney is the Meryl Streep of her generation. But it's hard to argue she didn't do everything required of her in Anyone But You. Which was to pull off the Total Opposites Who are All Wrong for Each Other RomCom trope while dropping insults on Glen Powell:

And she pulled off the Entitled, Self-Indulgent Teen With Resting Bitch Face in White Lotus:

So she does have some range. 

My question is, why is a successful female movie executive questioning her physical appearance? Aren't we supposed to have evolved beyond this as a culture? Sometime around #MeToo, didn't we all agree that looks-shaming actresses is wrong? That it's harmful? That it leads to all sort of serious consequences, from body dysmorphia to depression to addiction and worse? Frankly, I thought we moved past body-shaming women thanks to stunning and brave body positive celebrities like Lena Dunham and Lizzo. I guess I was too optimistic. And we have a long way to go as a culture.

Well I for one refuse to join with Ms. Baum in shaming Sydney Sweeney. I will continue to support her and celebrate her career, despite the fact she looks like this:

If you agree, I hope you'll join me and Sweeney's 19.6 million Instagram followers in looking past her superficial, outward appearance. And focusing instead on the beauty she has within. For shame, Hollywood. Try to be better and stop the hate.