I thought I’d follow up on yesterday’s post, on the movie mook, with a bit of work on the movie asshole (yesterday I called him a "movie dick," but I’ve been persuaded that "movie asshole" has the greater claim to legitimacy).

The “movie asshole” just to clarify, isn’t synonymous with “the villain.” The movie asshole isn’t evil. He’s not trying to kill the protagonist. He’s just trying to stop him or her from getting laid or getting the job. Jay Mohr was a good movie asshole, for instance, as Tom Cruise’s rival sports agent in Jerry Maguire. Ted McGinley was a good movie dick as the captain of the football team, and president of the Alpha Beta fraternity, in Revenge of the Nerds.

Perhaps the great movie asshole of our time is William Atherton, who was

1) the asshole from the EPA in Ghostbusters

2) the professorial asshole in Real Genius

3) and the reportorial a*hole (I’m feeling vulgar from saying the word too many times) in Die Hard

At Badmouth.net, Atherton comes in at number five, following

4. Paul Gleason, who was an A-H (even the "hole" is making me feel vulgar) in both Die Hard, The Breakfast Club, and Trading Places.

3. Gary Cole, for his exquisite A-H-dom in Office Space.

2. Paul Giamatti, for playing the A-H to Howard Stern in Private Parts.

1. Ted Knight, for being the A-H in Caddyshack.

There’s also a list at JoBlo.com, but it rolls villains, A-Hs, and weasels into one big list and therefore isn’t really of much use.