Link of Note: Most Overpaid Stars

Forbes.com calculated the most overpaid stars of cinema by comparing an actors' salaries to their films' revenues. Number one on the list was Will Farrell, whose movies earned an average of $3.29 for every $1.00 he was paid to appear in them. The full top ten are:

1. Will Ferrell ($3.29)

2. Ewan McGregor ($3.75)

3. Billy Bob Thornton ($4)

4. Eddie Murphy ($4.43)

5. Ice Cube ($4.77)

6. Tom Cruise ($7.18)

7. Drew Barrymore ($7.43)

8. Leonardo DiCaprio ($7.52)

9. Samuel Jackson ($8.59)

10. Jim Carrey ($8.62)

Commentary:

1. A common theme here is that the price of prominent funny-men (Ferrell, Murphy, Carrey) does not correspond with their value to a film. This isn't surprising, considering this group, which consists of three guys who got famous doing sketch comedy on TV and are famous for big characters who do not necessarily translate on the big screen. But perhaps the data merely show that comedians who become too famous don't know how to select decent screenplays (we don't see picky comedians here, like Bill Murray, for example).

2. Big surprise: Ewan McGregor, not because I would think his films gross a lot, but because he apparently gets paid a lot. I would think the reason for his presence on this list is that McGregor isn't exactly a draw in and of himself, and he works big studio and independent films -- maybe he doesn't adjust his price depending on the project.

3. Tom Cruise and DiCaprio are on this list because they're so famous that they can charge anything they want -- neither really has a natural substitute in the market. So producers have to bet on them and hope to recover value.

4. Billy Bob and Sam Jackson are on this list because they took advantage of the somewhat cult following they have due to their lower-paying earlier projects. Naturally, they took the money and ran, despite the awfulness of their project.

5. Barrymore is the only woman on the list (if you don't count DiCaprio), and I think it is because she is basically the go-to actress for stupid rom-coms that don't make much money. But she's worth the value, because, who else are they going to get? Sandra Bullock? Cameron Diaz? That's about it. And they're probably busy.

6. I have no idea why Ice Cube is on this list. I can't think of more than five movies he's even been in (and two of those have the word "Friday" in the title). Maybe they seriously overpaid him for Triple-X Two.