Mel Gibson's angry tirade against Jews, after being arrested in California on DUI charges, could wind up being the biggest mistake of his life.
Yet Mad Max found something to be happy about when cops took his mug shot.
His arresting smile and perfectly coiffed hair exemplify a new Hollywood trend: When you're nailed by cops, look like you just won the Lotto.
The idea is that if you look happy, you won't be nearly as embarrassed when the mug shot is released to the public. For an example of what not to do, see actor Hugh Grant's 1995 mug shot after being caught in the act with a prostitute.
Besides, who smiles when they're guilty, anyway?
Matthew McConaughey knew the whole world would be snickering when he was busted in 1999 on marijuana charges while playing bongos in the buff. His smirk lets us know he was in on the joke.
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Same for petite Carmen Electra, popped in Miami Beach in 1999 for battering her hulking husband, Dennis Rodman. The sly grin says it all: "You've got to be kidding, right?" If only she had brushed her hair.
At least her hair wasn't crazy wild. (Remember those mugs of James Brown, who smiled, and Nick Nolte, who didn't?)
Robert Downey Jr. smiled while doing time in prison in 1999 but forgot to smile when he was busted again in 2001.
And you knew it would only be a matter of time before the mug-shot-as-photo-op thing caught on with public figures who face hard time.
Tom DeLay's ear-to-ear grin last year makes us think the disgraced Texas congressman just barbecued a liberal for lunch instead of being photographed and fingerprinted for conspiracy and money-laundering charges.
But it was radio talker Rush Limbaugh who elevated the smiling mug shot to an art form. When booked in April by West Palm Beach, Fla., police on doctor-shopping charges, he asked cops whether he could see his mug shot before being released from the pokey. Apparently, he liked it. No reshoot was taken.
Even behind bars, the rich and famous like to maintain creative control over their images.
