Compared to much earlier attempts to portray Japanese characters in Western movies, however, the current crop might seem downright enlightened.
"I might be downright mean at times," Hunter said, "but nobody on the planet can say I don't love my wife, don't love my kids.
Ferguson's self-confidence – which, if it wasn't accompanied by considerable charm, might be downright insufferable – is no doubt partly a matter of temperament.
Two in four years might seem downright greedy, except that there was little disagreement, as Sarah Lyall notes in The Times, that Hilary Mantel had written an exceptional novel in "Bring Up the Bodies".
Post-Atkins suggesting that any carbohydrate is a health food might seem downright subversive, but there is nothing like a brown rice and seaweed salad for setting the scene for a more virtuous-feeling new year.
"I may not be the most agreeable person and I might be downright mean at times, but nobody on the planet can say that I don't love my wife and I don't love my kids," Hunter said through tears.
Generous, selfless - some might say downright saintly - but, nevertheless, I am prepared to make time in my busy diary to accompany her to the powder room for a girlie chat, talk frocks over a gin and tonic, giggle uproariously in department store bridal rooms and debate the folly of involving meddlesome in-laws when working out table plans.
That might sound downright unglamorous for Hollywood, but the Havaianas flip-flops, an everyman's classic here since 1962, are now fashion's flavor of the month in the United States, finding takers in high-end stores for prices as high as $160 for a customized, jewel-encrusted pair.
If starting a company sounds tough, doing it in another country might seem downright daunting.
