I’ll put this one in as a chaser to the Most Overrated Directors Thread going on.
My votes:
Meryl Streep- she manages to take a generic “someplace other than here” accent and expression of angst and parlay it into a career that for reasons known to the gods and the critics gets lauded and a closet full of Oscars.
The late great Katharine Hepburn- some of her movies are among my favorites, but let’s face it- she gave the same performance 98 times. She always played Katharine Hepburn, but sometimes it worked.
Robert DeNiro- I’ve certainly enjoyed a lot of his movies, but is he capable of playing anybody who’s not a smug smartass?
Leonardo DiCaprio- Yes, he was brilliant as the retarded brother in WHAT’S EATING GILBERT GRAPE?. He’s been adequate in projects since then- nothing more. (And believe it or not, retarded/mentally ill/wildly eccentric characters are easier to play than most people may think- they’re much more ‘broad’ than ‘nuance’ based- Anthony Hopkins’ repressed butler in REMAINS OF THE DAY was 200 x harder.)
Sampiro, as soon as I saw the thread title, I instantly thought of Meryl Streep. Admittably, I haven’t seen all her movies, but of the ones I have seen, she is abominable. She gets raves about her accents, but they sound like vague put-ons. She can cry on cue: so effing what? I saw The Hours earlier this week, and she didn’t even try. Her performance was one of the phoniest, stagiest things I had ever seen in an Academy Award-nominated film. She waved her arms around a lot, and talked in an “actor’s voice.” To me, she doesn’t act like her character, she acts like an actor.
Uh, let’s see… Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, The Godfather, Part II… yeah, I’d say he’s capable. The above are the roles upon which his reputation is founded. He coasts sometimes and just plays DeNiro - although I wouldn’t include Goodfellas as one of those times, and Al Capone is a role that was MADE for DeNiro - and that’s especially true of late, where he’s mostly traded on his history of playing Mafia type (Analyze This being the most glaring example). But he wouldn’t be able to get away with that kind of junk if he hadn’t done some real great acting before that. Of course, if you ask me he’s just becoming a joke now. I think it’s time he got back to ACTING.
Tobey Maguire.
What’s up with that dude? He’s either stoned or mentally deficient, with those half-closed eyes and that sloooooooow way of talking in a complete monotone.
Keanu Reeves isn’t an actor, his sole function is as an instant destroyer of any suspension of disbelief the other participants in a movie have created, period. He is an abomination! If he were here, I would be compelled to Pit him for life just on principle. If I could, I’d revoke his SAG and Equity cards forever, oh and his drivers license and passport just for fun. I’d…I’d…I’d…oh well, I guess you get the picture that I’m not quite his biggest fan.
Vin Diesel, although if you get your hands on some of the early independent stuff he did (one in particular where he plays a homosexual actor looking for work) its actually kinda impressive.
I just don’t see it. He did a few good parts but he is not the GOD that he has been made out to be.