Smartest in Hollywood? Hmmm…Dumbest? Oh, Okay

Ben Affleck squeaked into the 50 Smartest People in Hollywood but Matt Damon didn’t?

Entertainment Weekly put together their list of the 50 Smartest People in Hollywood. I know, the argument isn’t so much “who’s on it?” but more like, “how did they come up with 5o names?” But don’t worry, this is EW, so it’s a rather unscientific list, that is, they didn’t use grades, schools attended, appearances on game shows or anything like that. No, the list is just based on, uhhhhh…their general perception. Actually, according to their criteria:

“Smart” could mean many things. It encompasses books smarts and street smarts, financial genius and emotional intelligence. We weren’t interested in IQ. What mattered was the originality of each person’s thinking and the reach of their ideas beyond the borders of their own careers.”

Okay. Whatever. So here it is. Debate amongst yourselves. (Note: it’s only movie industry people and it’s everyone who works in the industry, not just actors, directors, etc.)

1. Judd Apatow, director/writer/producer
2. Steven Spielberg, director/producer
3. James Cameron, director/producer
4. Ari Emanuel, partner of the Endeavor Agency
5. Will Smith, actor/producer
6. Meryl Streep, actor
7. Peter Rice, president of Fox Searchlight
8. Tyler Perry, actor/director/writer/producer
9. David Heyman, producer
10. John Knoll, visual-effects supervisor of Industrial Light & Magic
11. Brian Grazer, producer
12. Dick Cook, chairman of the Walt Disney Studios
13. George Clooney, actor/director/producer
14. Jerry Bruckheimer, producer
15. Amy Pascal, co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment
16. Peter Jackson, director/producer
17. Will Ferrell, actor/producer
18. Robert Zemeckis, director
19. Tom Rothman, co-chair of Fox Filmed Entertainment
20. Ben Stiller, actor/director/producer
21. Johnny Depp, actor/producer
22. Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks Animation
23. Brad Bird, writer/director
24. Emmanuel Lubezki, cinematographer
25. Zack Snyder, director
26. Stacey Snider, CEO of DreamWorks SKG
27. Michael Moore, documentarian
28. Paul Greengrass, director
29. J.J. Abrams, producer/director
30. Jodie Foster, actor/director
31. Kathleen Kennedy, producer
32. Thelma Schoonmaker, editor
33. Angelina Jolie, actor
34. Sacha Baron Cohen, actor/writer/producer
35. Tim Palen, co-president of film marketing for Lionsgate
36. Modi Wiczyk, co-CEO of Media Rights Capital
37. Guillermo del Toro, writer/producer/director
38. Diablo Cody, screenwriter
39. Mary Zophres, costume designer
40. Jeff Skoll, founder of Participant Productions
41. Stefan Sonnenfeld, president of Company 3
42. Daniel Battsek, president of Miramax Films
43. Beth Swofford, agent at CAA
44. Roderick Jaynes, editor
45. Cate Blanchett, actor
46. Jeff Walker, Comic-Con impresario
47. Amy Powell, senior vice president of interactive marketing at Paramount
48. Gustavo Santaolalla, composer
49. Sarah Polley, actor/writer/director
50. Ben Affleck, actor/director/writer/producer

So if that isn’t enough for you to digest, how about this? The New York Daily News didn’t buy this smartest people in Hollywood thing, so in response they came up with their 50 Dumbest People in Hollywood list. Wow! Good job Daily News entertainment folks! It must have been hard to keep this one down to 50! (though they did cheat by including reality TV stars, singers, and other D listers…but they are in Hollywood!)

1. Lindsay Lohan - poor movie choices (”I Know Who Killed Me”), delinquent behavior and bad taste in men.
2. Kim Kardashian - because it is sad when you leak your sex tape and nobody cares.
3. Spencer Pratt - who thinks his life on MTV’s “The Hills” is reality - and believes we think so, too.
4. Jeff Kwatinetz - the man that gave the okay for Britney Spears’ disastrous MTV Video Music Awards performance.
5. Shia LaBeouf - the 21 year-old “Transformers” star, for getting arrested while refusing to leave a Walgreens pharmacy.
6. Heidi Montag, reality television star
7. Jessica Simpson, singer
8. Kiefer Sutherland, actor, recurring drunk driver
9. Tori Spelling, former teen actress/daughter of a media mogul
10. Rumer Willis, daughter of two famous people
11. Nick Hogan, son of pro wrestler
12. Courtney Love, aging rock chick, disaster
13. J.R. Rotem, music producer and possible Britney Spears baby daddy
14. Britney Spears, pop star, train wreck
15. Brad Garrett, comedian, paparazzi hater
16. Ken Paves, celebrity hairdresser, hanger-on
17. Jennifer Love Hewitt, actress
18. Brad Womack, indecisive Bachelor
19. Michael Jackson, former singer, mess
20. Cash Warren, celebrity boyfriend
21. Audrina Patridge, “The Hills” star, vapid conversationalist
22. Wilmer Valderamma, actor?
23. Vanessa Minnillo, former VJ, celebrity girlfriend
24. Mel Gibson, actor, drunk driver
25. Michael Richards, comedian, racist
26. Brandon Davis, party boy, racist
27. Isiah Washington, actor, homophobe
28. Charlie Sheen, actor
29. Denise Richards, actress
30. Alec Baldwin, actor, cell phone abuser
31. Chad Michael Murray, serial fiance
32. Steve-O, public nudist
33. Nicole Richie, directionally challenged driver
34. Janice Dickinson, big-mouthed former supermodel
35. Adrienne Curry, reality star and grammatically challenged blogger
36. Anne Heche, self-described crazy person
37. Bai Ling, fashion disaster, C-lister
38. Kevin Federline, serial sperminator
39. Shar Jackson, slept with Kevin Federline
40. Scott Baio, “Charles in Charge”
41. Dustin Diamond, washed-up teen actor and porn star
42. Tila Tequila, reality show bisexual
43. Russell Crowe, phone thrower
44. Kristin Cavallari, not even famous after “Laguna Beach”
45. Nick Carter, Backstreet Boy
46. Vanessa Hudgens, Disney star, nude picture poser
47. Michelle Rodriguez, public nuisance
48. David Hasselhoff, public disaster
49. Joe Francis, Girls Gone Wild creator, inmate
50. Tom Sizemore, probation violator

(Russell Crowe is ranked higher than David Hasselhoff? I’m already arguing!!)