# Acting performances you weren't prepared to be impressed by **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 10, 2007, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acting-performances-you-werent-prepared-to-be-impressed-by/399522 "2007-04-10T18:49:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acting-performances-you-werent-prepared-to-be-impressed-by/399522/1 "2007-04-10T18:49:56Z")
Okay, first off, I’m not talking about comedians or singers trying their hand at drama. I’m narrowing the scope of this discussion to established actors with whose works you are well acquainted…and who managed to blow your mind anyway. An example from my recent Netflix queue: I rented the 1953 version of [Julius Ceasar](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045943/) out of pure curiosity, wondering if Marlon Brando’s turn as Antony would be worth a damn. Well, to be honest, Brando was pretty good. But I was totally floored by John Gielgud as Cassius. Okay, first of all, he had **hair** , which was unexpected. But the just-so-slightly crusty, eternally bemused, pink-cheeked, epitome of bone-dry upper class English drollery? As a villain? Well yes, yes, and a thousand times yes. My God, the man was intense…the hatred stabbed forth from his eyes, and his golden voice dripped with venom. While nothing, not even the ten minutes of [_Prospero’s Books_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102722/) I managed to sit through, could ever induce me to forget the man’s reputation as a Shakespearean interpreter of the highest order, somehow his subsequent fifty years of playing the butler had inured me to the power of his acting. I consider myself reenlightened. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acting-performances-you-werent-prepared-to-be-impressed-by/399522/2 "2007-04-10T22:50:17Z")
Paul Newman in The Road To Perdition. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acting-performances-you-werent-prepared-to-be-impressed-by/399522/3 "2007-04-10T22:52:26Z")
Tony Curtis as the _Boston Strangler_. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acting-performances-you-werent-prepared-to-be-impressed-by/399522/4 "2007-04-10T22:52:56Z")
Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison comes immediately to mind. At the time I’d seen him and loved him in Top Secret! and Real Genius…but I wasn’t expecting that performance. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acting-performances-you-werent-prepared-to-be-impressed-by/399522/5 "2007-04-10T22:55:05Z")
I always assume Nick Nolte and Marky Mark are gonna blow moose udders in hell. And I’m always wrong. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acting-performances-you-werent-prepared-to-be-impressed-by/399522/6 "2007-04-10T22:56:21Z")
Nobody agrees with me, but Lou Diamond Phillips in **El Cortez**. > **[El Cortez](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=416078)** > > Has anyone seen \*El Cortez \*? Watched it the other night and really enjoyed the movie. Lou Diamond Phillips’ portrayal of Manny DeSilva is oscar worthy IMHO, yet I haven’t seen anything praising the movie. Oh well. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acting-performances-you-werent-prepared-to-be-impressed-by/399522/7 "2007-04-10T23:00:56Z")
Robert Downey, Jr. in _Chaplin_ Matthew Lillard in _Scooby Doo_- I’m not joking when I say that his take on Shaggy was incredible- perfect mannerisms, expressions, etc.- way better than lots of Oscar nominated performances Hayden Christensen in _Shattered Glass_- I only knew him from Star Wars; who knew he can actually act? (Lucas must be a director no one wants to work with except for money and exposure) ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acting-performances-you-werent-prepared-to-be-impressed-by/399522/8 "2007-04-10T23:04:29Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] Matthew Lillard in _Scooby Doo_ [/QUOTE] Ha! He’s actually the one I was gonna say. I didn’t think it was possible to have a live Shaggy. More than any character in Scooby Doo, he’s the one I think of as being the most cartoonish. I was so impressed with that performance. Actually, his performance is the only reason I even watched those abominations. ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acting-performances-you-werent-prepared-to-be-impressed-by/399522/9 "2007-04-10T23:11:26Z")
Watched Reese Witherspoon in **Freeway** about ten days ago. Never seen a movie with her in it,didn’t know a thing about her,but…HOLY CRAP!! She was amazing.Since then,I have seen three more of her movies, **Fear** , **Legally Blonde** and **Walk The Line** all outstanding performances. My new Favorite Actress. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acting-performances-you-werent-prepared-to-be-impressed-by/399522/10 "2007-04-10T23:13:50Z")
Marky Mark in “Boogie Nights” Lawrence Taylor in “Any Given Sunday” Fergie (the pop-tard) had a small part in “Planet Terror” (the good half of “Grindhouse”) and was pretty decent in it. Mike Myers in “Studio 54”. His scenes made the movie watchable. The dude who played the Human Torch/Johnny Storm in “Fantastic Four” I liked him in “Not Another Teen Movie” and I wasn’t expecting to like him so much in the FF movie. He was easily the best part of it. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acting-performances-you-werent-prepared-to-be-impressed-by/399522/11 "2007-04-10T23:21:34Z")
I loved Laurence Olivier, and I always expected excellence from him (and got it). The movie in which his performance knocked my socks off was _The Entertainer_, in which he played a loud, not-very-talented, washed-up vaudeville performer. Olivier as Hamlet, Lear (even Othello)? Sure, that’s what he was born for. Olivier portraying a third-rate hack? Now, **that** was acting. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acting-performances-you-werent-prepared-to-be-impressed-by/399522/12 "2007-04-10T23:23:07Z")
Ryan Reynolds was surprisingly great as a competent, serious, heroic FBI agent in _Smokin’ Aces_. (R&B singer Alicia Keyes was very good in that movie as well, playing a super-sexy hitwoman.) I’m not a Hugh Grant fan, but I thought he was spot-on perfect as a has-been '80s pop star in _Music and Lyrics_, a romantic comedy I liked a lot, in spite of myself. He was actually charming without being obnoxious, when he could have played the character as very stuck-up, bitter, or deluded. Probably the biggest of all time for me: I always thought of Brad Pitt as a pretty-boy, an “actor” who was only in movies because he made girls swoon. I always think of that one period piece where he had long blond hair and rode horses a lot. I was stunned when I saw him in two good roles back-to-back: a crazy wannabe-revolutionary in \*12 Monkeys \* and a big-city detective in _Seven_. Now I think he’s a terrific character actor trapped in a leading man’s body, with Tyler Durden in _Fight Club_ as his greatest role ever. ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acting-performances-you-werent-prepared-to-be-impressed-by/399522/13 "2007-04-10T23:23:23Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] Matthew Lillard in _Scooby Doo_- I’m not joking when I say that his take on Shaggy was incredible- perfect mannerisms, expressions, etc.- way better than lots of Oscar nominated performances [/QUOTE] First one I thought of when I read the thread title. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acting-performances-you-werent-prepared-to-be-impressed-by/399522/14 "2007-04-10T23:24:28Z")
Don Wahlburg in “Band of Brothers”. He was fantastic as Carwood Lipton. ---
**Author:** ![essell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/34f0e0/32.png) [@essell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/essell)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acting-performances-you-werent-prepared-to-be-impressed-by/399522/15 "2007-04-10T23:24:33Z")
Jim Carey in “The eternal sunshine of the spotless mind” Compare to Tom Cruse in “Vanilla Sky” Normally I’d burn either of them, but Carey was almost as dignified as a British person for that film. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acting-performances-you-werent-prepared-to-be-impressed-by/399522/16 "2007-04-10T23:25:53Z")
Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acting-performances-you-werent-prepared-to-be-impressed-by/399522/17 "2007-04-10T23:43:16Z")
I was very impressed with Colin Farrell in Phone Booth. Before that I had only seen him play the cocky tough guy. I thought is performance in Phone Booth validated his acting skills. ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acting-performances-you-werent-prepared-to-be-impressed-by/399522/18 "2007-04-10T23:47:04Z")
Adam Sandler in **Punch Drunk Love**. Miles away from Happy Gilmore. Jack Nicholson in **About Schmidt**. Never broke character and never acted like Jack. ---
**Author:** ![Gentle\_Robot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@Gentle\_Robot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gentle_Robot)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acting-performances-you-werent-prepared-to-be-impressed-by/399522/19 "2007-04-10T23:57:07Z")
Nicolas Cage - Adaptation ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acting-performances-you-werent-prepared-to-be-impressed-by/399522/20 "2007-04-11T00:04:32Z")
[QUOTE=HubZilla] Adam Sandler in **Punch Drunk Love**. Miles away from Happy Gilmore. [/QUOTE] That was going to be mine. An astounding performance, all the more so because it really _isn’t_ that far from _Happy Gilmore_. It’s basically exactly the same character, except when placed in a realistic setting surrounded by normal people, it highlights how pathetic and dysfunctional such a person would really be. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acting-performances-you-werent-prepared-to-be-impressed-by/399522.md?page=2)