Not to be outdone by Megan Fox, Christian Bale was photographed on the set of David O. Russell’s The Fighter yesterday looking extremely thin. And unlike Ms. Fox, Bale doesn’t seem to have needed a corset (though who knows what’s under that striped shirt?). Of course, after the method actor’s appearances in The Machinist and Rescue Dawn, this physical transformation is pretty tame.

Yet that doesn’t mean the online media can’t describe him as looking “crack cocaine addicted,” as Just Jared did in its posting of the pics. What, no “bulimic Batman” jokes? Oh, I guess the drug reference is more appropriate to the film in question, as Bale will be portraying former boxer Dickie Eklund, who actually was addicted to crack.

Well, appropriateness or not, let’s crack [no pun intended] some jokes. Best zingers from the film blogs can be found after the jump:

• Devin Faraci at CHUD.com addresses Bale’s range as an actor:
  

  Oh hey look, it’s Christian Bale doing his Christian Bale “I have many weights but only one grim mode” thing…Bale has obviously lost a bunch of weight and has thinned his hair; the guy was looking gaunt when I interviewed him for Terminator Salvation, but this is ridiculous.

• Gale at Videogum points out that Bale threw his tantrum too early:
  

  But also, how bad is he wishing he had saved that melt down for now? Terminator: Salvation was such a stupid Nickelback video. The whole argument that he was an artist who got too caught up in his art, it’s just like, huh? Which art? The art of screaming into a walkie talkie about robots? Oh right, that art. I don’t know anything about The Fighter, but I am pretty sure he’s already got a better leg to stand on here. A better, pale white, atrophied leg, covered in what appears to be stone washed denim. To stand on.

• TMZ watches what Bale’s eating for a recall of that prior Bale story:
  

  Hopefully an apple a day keeps the cinematographer away … from walking into his scene.

• Mark Graham at Vulture wishes Bale would have better range vocally:
  

  While we can’t help but be impressed by his dedication to his craft, we think we speak for everyone when we say that the one thing we really hope he loses is that silly, growly voice.

• Ryan Adams at Awards Daily points out some interestingly ineffective ads that come with the images:
  

  To duplicate Bale’s look of sexy wreckage, pop-up retail links on Just Jared help you track down the perfect shambles ensemble.)

• Stephen Zaban at The WOW Report reaches for another drug:
  

  Bale, as usual, has fucked with his body, losing weight, hair, and whatnot for his next role as boxer-crack addict Dickie Eklund in the movie The Fighter. So even though he looks like he might be on meth, it’s actually only Method.

• Stacey Nosek at Pajiba apparently takes things too seriously, too. No joke to be found here, unfortunately:
  

  Christian Bale is playing a crackhead in his new film, and I think he’s taking it a little too seriously — as we all know he’s apt to do. Gross.

• At least Stacey’s line is still funnier than what Vince Mancini at FilmDrunk came up with:
  

  Just Jared posted some pictures of Christian Bale looking like balding, crack-addicted shell of his former self in Los Angeles yesterday.  Perhaps coincidentally, Bale was on the set of The Fighter, in which he plays Dickie Eklund, a boxer who becomes a balding, crack-addicted shell of his former self.