Wit & Attitude Quote by Paul Kane

Kane is doing that familiar media two-step: praising a celebrity while preemptively insulating himself from the charge of bandwagon worship. The opening clause - "I know it's popular to say this" - is less humility than positioning. It signals self-awareness, a writerly wink to the reader: I see the hype machine, I’m not just another passenger on it. Then he immediately concedes the hype anyway - "she's the woman of the moment" - making the cultural context part of the argument. Berry isn’t just talented; she’s culturally unavoidable.

The real work happens in the stacking of compliments that track how fame gets justified. "Audience appeal" and "star quality" are the industry-friendly virtues, the market metrics dressed up as instinct. Kane invokes them first because they explain why Berry is being elevated right now: she sells. But he pivots to the line that’s meant to feel corrective, even faintly moral: "she's a damn good actress too". That "too" is doing a lot - it suggests acting skill is the neglected part of the conversation, overshadowed by the gloss of celebrity.

Subtext: Berry is fighting a double bind that women "of the moment" often face, where visibility triggers suspicion and admiration gets framed as trend-following. Kane’s mild profanity functions like a stamp of authenticity, a refusal of PR language. He’s not merely endorsing Berry; he’s defending the legitimacy of her acclaim in a culture that’s quick to treat female stardom as pure surface.