Hollywood’s greatest assholes in movies

A perspective from developmental psychology

Great characters make great movies, even when they are complete assholes. Recently I have been going through a list of my favorite movies and what a coincidence, I realised that all these movies have true real assholes in it. And actually those assholes are the ones who lead the plot and make the movie more interesting and fun to watch. Most of them are comedy characters however an asshole can have egotistical traits that can borderline sociopathy. In this article we will go through a psychological profiling of what an asshole is and how they have made some Hollywood movies great.

What makes an asshole and asshole?

Without getting into psychology, I think Scott Adams is the one who has put it best in the definition of what an asshole is. A couple of years ago I bumped into the book How to Fail at Amost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams the creator of the Dilbert cartoon. In the book Adams gave a very detailed definition of what an asshole is.

There’s no single, agreed definition of what it means to be an ass-hole. It might include selfishness, arrogance, mean-spiritedness, or any number of other character flaws. You know asshole behavior when you see it. And if you’re normal, you’ve probably been one for at least a few minutes of your life.

Scott Adams, How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big

He breaks it down in the following asshole behaviours:

1. Changing the subject to him/herself
2. Dominating conversation
3. Bragging
4. Cheating, lying
5. Disagreeing with any suggestion, no matter how trivial
6. Using honesty as a justification for cruelty
7. Withholding simple favors out of some warped sense of social justice
8. Abandoning the rules of civil behaviour, such as saying hello or making eye contact

An unhealthy sense of self

In developmental psychology the sense of self is how one thinks about, evaluates or perceives oneself. Building a strong sense of self is something that allows you to have confidence in yourself and gives you the will power to achieve things. Psychotherapy for example works many aspects in the development and integration of a healthy sense of self that can allow you to have healthy relationships.

A healthy sense of self is a major component of self-steem and self-awareness. An unhealthy sense of self is whenever relationships with the other become secondary and the only important thing is to protect own interests and desires with disregard of the wellbeing of the other.

Assholes are assholes because they have gotten away with their unhealthy sense of self. Their strategy is to dominate by diminishing the self-steem of the other.

Assholes or jerks in psychological terms take the sense of self to unhealthy levels where they completely disconnect from reality, making them less empathic, selfish and cunning. Capable of doing whatever it takes to reafirm themselves doing whatever it takes, dominating, bragging, making others feel less, humiliating and even killing to sustain their egos. This sounds more like sociopathic traits, however, assholes as Adams portray them fit more the comedic scene and are more delusional than violent.

Assholes are not really the Godfather type that go around killing everyone that stands on their way, assholes are more the annoying characters that will do everything to make you feel less, their strategy is to diminish the self-steem of the other to dominate the relationship. Assholes are assholes because they have gotten away with their unhealthy sense of self, making that trait a main strategy to survive and get-around in life, business and relationships.

James ‘Droz’ Andrews played by Jeremy Piven in ‘P.C.U’

P.C.U is a college classic, and Jeremy Piven could have not done it better in portaying Droz. The eternal college student that has been around school for decades making the college campus as his own ground. Droz is like the boss in P.C.U. he hates nerds, feminists and vegans. He is a cocky domineering student that gets away with everything in college, waging war against a fraternity of rich kids. He is the perfect example of an asshole doing whatever it takes to dominate and diminish anyone who is not in line with his

Bill Lumberg played by Gary Cole in ‘Office Space’

Lumberg, the infamous manager is Peter’s worst nightmare, Office Space’s annoying boss is the driving force behind the storyline. Lumberg is the incarnation of everything that is wrong about the corporate world. He is the antagonistic force that sets all the storyline in place. Lumberg is the prototypical asshole all of us have found at some point in life at work. They are completely delusional and aligned with corporate goals no matter how absurd they can be and will to whatever it takes to diminish you at work if you are not in line with their managerial objectives.

Danny McBride played by himself in ‘This is The End’

‘This is The End’ is an apocalyptic parody movie, where celebrity friends played by themselves decide to make a movie of what would it be to survive the end of the world. One of the friends is Danny McBride who plays himself by being a complete egotistical prick that is just concerned about his own survival, willing to kill all his friends just to make it through the end of the world. He even tried to murder all his friends with a gun and failed in the act. The scene although extremely hilarious could have taken a different turn if it was not for the prop gun.

Kenny Powers played by Danny McBride in Eastbound and Down

Kenny Powers from the HBO series Eastbound and Down is the quintesencial asshole. Danny McBride and Jody Hill nailed it with the definition of an asshole in the story of this hit series. Kenny Powers built all his hubris from a successful baseball career as a pitcher that took a down turn after his own jerkiness made him an undesirable player in the league. He retired and continued living in the delusion of still being a celebrity sportsman, this made him a walking cocktail of egotistical narcissism and toxic masculinity that is absolutely crazy and hilarious.

Michael Grates played by Ben Stiller in Reality Bites

Ben Stiller plays Michael Grates a successful producer in a TV show that is the antagonistic force in between the romance between Trow (Ethan Hawke) and Lelaina (Winona Rider). Grates during the whole movie just portrays the selfish entrepreneur who puts his career above everything in his life. He is a complete opposite from Troy who is a carefree artist who lives one day at a time and doesn’t really worry about money or success.

Ashley Schaeffer played by Will Ferrell in Eastbound and Down

Will Ferrell plays the narcissistic and arrogant car dealer Ashley Schaeffer who hires Kenny Powers for $200 to do a personal appereance. The whole purpose of the ordeal was to humiliate Kenny Powers and make fun of his failed baseball career. Will Ferrell’s plays masterfully this delirious character that runs his dealership like a gangster and a pimp.

Zach Galifanakis in Between Two Ferns

Between Two Ferns started as a very unusual and annoying talk show which later became a movie in 2019. The talk show host, Zach Galiffanakis does an incredible job at being a complete asshole in front of his guests. The funniest thing about the show is that he gets to play the annoying asshole in front of real celebrities and famous polititians. Among the famous appereances are Brad Pitt, Justin Bieber, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Keanu Reeves, Sean Penn, etc. It is just hilarious to see how he diminishes and humiliates these personalities.

Alonzo played by Denzel Washington in ‘Training Day’

Last but not least is ‘Training Day’ by Antoine Fuqua, one of my favourite movies. I have probably watched it over 30 times. I have always asked myself why I love this movie so much specially Denzel Washington’s character Alonzo. Couldn’t understand how I could like this ruthless and corrupt cop. Recently I watched this movie again and got to see it from different perspective. From the beginning you fall in love with Alonzo, his confidence, sense of humor, strong character and hubris, however as the movie unfolds you start seeing that behind that strong character lies a corrupt cop that is capable of anything to stop the russians from killing him even if it takes getting rid of his partner to getaway with crime. Alonzo is the type of asshole that borderlines in sociopathy. Although in the beginning is comments might sound comical in depth his twisted moral ends up getting him in trouble. What seemed to be an admirable hero with an impecable track record in narcotics becomes an evil and ruthless criminal.

Don’t be an asshole

The magic of comedy and the reason it has been the way it is since the greeks is that you get to laugh at seeing ego at its most delusional and absurd level. Comedy is a way to recognise that in essence we are de-identified with this type of selfishness. Of course we can see a bit of ourselves in these characters however, and seeing selfishness taken to that level is so unreal that it is comical. I suspect that most assholes are unaware of their personality, I mean, who wants to be an asshole. Unless you are delusional and have completely disconnected yourself from reality. Being aware of our own sense of self is a sign of healthiness and welbeing. It will allow you to thrive in relationships life, business and family. What makes comedy and this characters fun is to realise the absurdity of what being an asshole is. So don’t be an asshole.

And don’t forget to drop me a line in the comments if you have any other suggestions of assholes in movies.