Twilight's Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner look-a-likes?

Quite contrary to the popular opinion of Twilight fans, one writer has opined that the vexation suffered by Bella Swan (as portrayed by Kristen Stewart) starting with The Twilight Saga: New Moon derives, at least in part, from a similarity between leading men Edward Cullen (as portrayed by Robert Pattinson) and Jacob Black (as portrayed by Taylor Lautner).

Says Guardian Observer Amelia Hill,

Something strange is happening to our leading men - they are fading, blurring and losing their edge. Visit the cinema or turn on the television and you'll see an endless string of interchangeable heroes whose unique selling point is that they don't have one.

It seems that the days are largely gone when young actors were hired for their individual charms and charisma - think Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson. A trend that started a few years ago has become so widespread that we are now presented with heroes whose cloned looks are so bland they are defined by each film they make, instead of the other way round.

Far from insisting on acting ability or screen presence, directors and producers are demanding that their leading men are so indistinguishable that they end up blending together in audiences' minds: Rob Pattinson and Taylor Lautner battle for Kristen Stewart's heart in Twilight, but the sweep of their floppy hair and the gaze of their long-lashed, doe-like eyes are so similar that it is no surprise that the fictional Bella has trouble making her choice. Blair faces the same problem in Gossip Girl when she is asked to choose between the baby-faced Ed Westwick and the cherub-cheeked Chace Crawford.

Pattinson not only resembles Lautner: both also share the antiseptically handsome facial traits of Westwick and Crawford. All four boy-men have an uncanny similarity to the soft cheekbones and gentle jawlines of Ian Somerhalder from Lost, who himself looks like Ashton Kutcher, Chris Pine from Star Trek, James Marsden from Hairspray and Mr Scarlett Johansson, Ryan Reynolds.

Now, that's a rather novel notion that Hill presents with regard to Pattinson and Lautner, is it not?

Most of the Team Edward/Team Jacob schism derives from the distinction of their literary selves, but has been strengthened by the distinguishability of their two actors.

So, what do you think of this argument? Are the physical characteristics of Lautner and Pattinson similar at all? Isn't this writer a little confused about the art imitating art distinction that is carried between a statement about the physical characteristics of the actors as opposed to dynamics and decision process of the plot and storyline? Anything else?

Source : http://www.examiner.com/x-4908-Twilight-Examiner~y2009m6d28-Twilights-Robert-Pattinson-and-Taylor-Lautner-lookalikes