Ok, he may be a colossal jerk, but he's an attractive jerk.
But he usually plays men who are the opposite of jerks: men of honor, pride, love, and devotion to duty. His great screen successes have come from portraying real heroes. You'd think they would inspire a person to better behavior, as seeing them briefly on the screen inspires and instructs us. But no.
We are all in love with the characters Crowe portrays, not Crowe himself, who seems to be a bumbling fool.
Meanwhile I'm going to ask Mr. Fairview if he will get his hair cut like Maximus's and grow a little beard like that. Oh, and buy some armor.
Sigh. Please understand that Russell is only a human being, albeit flawed, and he still has many good points. I'll forgive him his mistakes, since he's trying hard to improve his deficiencies and move on.