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ABC News
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National

The Whale is being lauded as Brendan Fraser's comeback, but even his Oscar-nominated performance can't evade its flaws

Brendan Fraser Darren Aronofsky Ellie Sadie Sink Liz Hong Chau Samuel D Hunter Hollywood

Hollywood loves a comeback story, especially when it allows them to embrace someone they've cruelly cast aside, and this awards season it's all about Brendan Fraser – beloved 90s star of The Mummy and George of the Jungle, pre-eminent himbo, and all-round nice guy who's gone from discarded has-been to frontrunner for the best actor Oscar.

Dwarfed by elaborate prosthetics that transform the one-time hunk into a morbidly obese 600-pound man, Fraser is Charlie, the reclusive English professor at the centre of The Whale, the latest film – some might suspect provocation – from Darren Aronofsky, the American director behind Black Swan, Mother! and Requiem for a Dream.

Aronofsky is rarely boring – or at the very least, he's never afraid to court ridicule – and The Whale's opening sequence does not disappoint.

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