Alec Baldwin makes a play for Tom Hanks

Tom Hanks and Alec Baldwin should get a room. Or at least form a mutual admiration society. Any more PDAs like the one captured by Dish of Salt, and they’ll have to use the word “p---y” in a way that means “I be leaning like that,” if you catch my drift.

 

But seriously, when uber-star Hanks put himself on the line for “One Night Only," an inaugural benefit for UCLA's  School of Theatre Film and Television, it’s hard to find fault. The star-studded December 2^nd event drew some of Hollywood’s top stars. Rita Wilson, William Shatner, Jon Hamm, Annette Benning, Alicia Silverstone, Martin Short, and Nora Ephron all participated in an unrehearsed, unblocked performance of “You Can’t Take It With You.”

 

Hanks seemed genuinely happy to help a good cause. He chatted with Access Hollywood’s Laura Saltman and listened politely as a gushing Baldwin played across the screen. In return, Hanks -- whose talent and good looks are exceeded only by his grace and humility -- heaped enough praise on Baldwin to make him jump up and down like a little girl.

 

Oh, he likes me he really likes me (sigh), do you think we can do lunch?

 

 

As you can tell, Tina’s boy pretty much rubs me the wrong way. When a nasty phone message turned Baldwin into even nastier gossip fodder, 30Rock followed an episode with interactive Q and A. I posted a seemingly benign request asking how Baldwin was weathering the storm – not to be mean but to find out how he was holding up on the set under pressure – and received a very terse reply. Not only were they banning my IP address, but also deleting my “insensitive inquiry.”

 

Insensitive inquiry? More like real-time disconnect.

 

You’ve heard about email getting lost in translation? Well, multiply that about tenfold and you’ll understand my quizzical reaction. Like a kid whose ice cream cone had up and plopped to the ground, I was downright surprised … and humiliated. My IP address would forever bear an indelible scarlet letter. Oh the pain.

 

Maybe he wasn’t responsible but after that incident, Baldwin’s Shweddy Balls didn’t hold the same “shway.” Whiney and opinionated, Baldwin has alienated other fans along the way. Seeing him in the award-winning role of his career, I think the critical acclaim has gone to his head.

 

Makes me wonder if he leveraged Saltman. You know, the old “I’ll Get You An Exclusive If You Play My Interview For Hanks” routine.