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Max Braden: Without a doubt I think Jackie Earle Haley benefits the most, because he was prominently featured and really added a lot to the role. People who haven't seen the movie may not get that impression from the trailer, but what counts for future roles is the response of producers who have seen the movie. I think Billy Crudup also gets a significant boost mostly because he's flown pretty far under the radar of most audiences. I hope I'm forgiven for this, but during the movie I kept thinking that Akerman was actually Lucy Lawless.

Daron Aldridge: My inclination is to go with Malin Akerman simply because she seems to be the one that the studio via its marketing has given the most exposure to. USA Network's regular ads and promos for Watchmen centered and prominently featured her. It's a far cry from 2007's The Brothers Solomon.

Josh Spiegel: I agree with Max; at the least, I hope he's right about Jackie Earle Haley. After 2006's "Little Children," it's nice to see him get such a prominent role. Haley's the best thing about Watchmen and deserves the attention, as would Patrick Wilson. Aside from looking pretty, I found Akerman's performance to be quite bad, actually; I also sat through her performance in The Heartbreak Kid, which was pretty bad all around, so I'm not sure if she deserves the attention.

Pete Kilmer: Everyone in the cast minus Malin Ackerman was just terrific. Haley, Morgan, Crudup and Cugino and Patrick Wilson really just nailed the parts. Ackerman was fine but just outplayed by everyone else. If I'm a producer I'm looking at Haley and Morgan really hard for some serious roles.

David Mumpower: I thought that Carla Gugino was by far the weak link. Her stuff must show up in the extended DVD version of the movie, but I can see why it got whittled down so much. She was just too shrill, which is surprising for such a great actress. Matthew Goode, whom I usually like, wasn't much better. Everyone else was brilliant. I think Malin Akerman is going to get a lot of work from this for her body more than her body of work and I think Jackie Earl Haley has re-established himself as a fine character actor. The person I think that could leverage this into breakout success, however, is Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Women already loved him and now men do as well. He's about to be 43 and is poised to be the proverbial overnight success if his next few projects take off.

Kim Hollis: Honestly, I think Patrick Wilson stands to gain a lot from this. The honest evaluation on Haley is that he's going to be pigeonholed into character roles, just because of his appearance. His best-case scenario would be a Paul Giamatti-like career trajectory, which isn't a bad thing at all. Wilson, on the other hand, is good looking and has shown that he's not one-note at all. He could be placed at the center of a tentpole and probably do quite well, or he could do some more awards bait-type films. I do think it's interesting that the two people I discuss here were both key players in the tiny tiny film Little Children, which I didn't even like that much (though it wasn't particularly because of them). It's fascinating that they both moved on to a blockbuster-type project so quickly.

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