# Actors that don't really act **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 18, 2011, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343 "2011-11-18T14:56:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/141 "2011-11-23T21:23:47Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Audiences watching actors are supposed to suspend belief and imagine that the actor is the character he is playing. When we see Penn for example on the screen we are reminded of the guy who likes to shoot his mouth off, not the character he is playing. Do you accept the possibility that this has more to do with you than with Sean Penn’s work? ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/142 "2011-11-23T21:59:46Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Do you accept the possibility that this has more to do with you than with Sean Penn’s work? Sean Penn’s acting is about as subtle as his politics. About the only film it worked in was _Dead Man Walking_, where at least the over-the-top hysteria was somewhat appropriate. Elsewhere, it just screams “WATCH ME **ACT!!** ”. Compare his performance in _Mystic River_ with that of Tim Robbins. One is a masterful piece of character acting, and the other is scenery-chewing nonsense. To be fair, though, Penn can wildly overact a decent range of characters. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2011, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/143 "2011-11-23T22:28:35Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > Sean Penn’s acting is about as subtle as his politics. About the only film it worked in was _Dead Man Walking_, where at least the over-the-top hysteria was somewhat appropriate. Elsewhere, it just screams “WATCH ME **ACT!!** ”. Compare his performance in _Mystic River_ with that of Tim Robbins. One is a masterful piece of character acting, and the other is scenery-chewing nonsense. > > To be fair, though, Penn can wildly overact a decent range of characters. Did you see _Milk_? _The Game_? _Sweet and Lowdown_? I’ve not seen everything Penn has done, but I’ve seen at least a dozen of his films, and can fairly evaluate his work. He’s capable of both wild and subtle work. Personally I think he’s an idiot for being such a tobacco addict that he requires a private plane so he can smoke all through the entire trip, but that has no impact on the quality of his acting. I can enjoy an actor’s work even if their personal life appalls me. I’ll see Tom Cruise movies even though I think he’s a moronic cult dupe (though I’ll pay for a movie not starring a moronic cult dupe). He is a decent actor, though not in Sean Penn’s league. The thing is, these threads always become either about politics, or opinions expressed about actors by people who apparently don’t see that many movies. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2011, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/144 "2011-11-23T22:56:26Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Did you see _Milk_? _The Game_? _Sweet and Lowdown_? > > I’ve not seen everything Penn has done, but I’ve seen at least a dozen of his films, and can fairly evaluate his work. He’s capable of both wild and subtle work. Personally I think he’s an idiot for being such a tobacco addict that he requires a private plane so he can smoke all through the entire trip, but that has no impact on the quality of his acting. > > I can enjoy an actor’s work even if their personal life appalls me. I’ll see Tom Cruise movies even though I think he’s a moronic cult dupe (though I’ll pay for a movie not starring a moronic cult dupe). He is a decent actor, though not in Sean Penn’s league. > > The thing is, these threads always become either about politics, or opinions expressed about actors by people who apparently don’t see that many movies. I disliked _Milk_ because of Penn’s performance. I’ve not seen the others you’ve mentioned, but of the half-dozen or so of his films I have seen it’s only _Dead Man Walking_ that I like\*. The thing I find with his performances is that they all look like _performances_ - I never feel like I’m seeing the character. I don’t necessarily have a problem with “watch me EMOTE” style acting when its appropriate - Pacino and Day Lewis have done their fair share of that, and are both actors I admire - but it’s all I’ve ever seen Penn do, and in films where it simply doesn’t work. \*Well, I liked _Mystic River_ apart from him. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2011, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/145 "2011-11-23T23:45:30Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > I disliked _Milk_ because of Penn’s performance. I’ve not seen the others you’ve mentioned, but of the half-dozen or so of his films I have seen it’s only _Dead Man Walking_ that I like\*. > > The thing I find with his performances is that they all look like _performances_ - I never feel like I’m seeing the character. I don’t necessarily have a problem with “watch me EMOTE” style acting when its appropriate - Pacino and Day Lewis have done their fair share of that, and are both actors I admire - but it’s all I’ve ever seen Penn do, and in films where it simply doesn’t work. > > \*Well, I liked _Mystic River_ apart from him. I can see your point, and while I don’t even know if agree or not overall, I know I disagree when it comes to Jeff Spicoli. Flawless. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/146 "2011-11-24T00:47:17Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > I disliked _Milk_ because of Penn’s performance. I’ve not seen the others you’ve mentioned, but of the half-dozen or so of his films I have seen it’s only _Dead Man Walking_ that I like\*. I thought he captured Harvey Milk perfectly. It was one of those situations were a talented actor was playing a person with an outsized personality and getting blamed for accurately portraying them. Nick Nolte got a raft of shit for [his Italian accent](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F2a46P_f6c&feature=related) in _Lorenzo’s Oil_, but I saw in interview with Augusto Odone and dammit, he sounded exactly as Nick Nolte played him. See _The Game_. A David Fincher film where Penn plays the wastrel younger brother of Michael Douglas, and the performance has to work on two different levels. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/147 "2011-11-24T04:59:30Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Do you accept the possibility that this has more to do with you than with Sean Penn’s work? No. The guys a self-righteous attention whore. Admit that you dont have a similar distraction from the role when watching Ronald Reagan or Charleton Heston act. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/148 "2011-11-24T05:02:26Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > I can see your point, and while I don’t even know if agree or not overall, I know I disagree when it comes to Jeff Spicoli. Flawless. Because we knew nothing about Penn in FTARH we were able to lose ourselves in the goofy character. Its hard to play a goofy character effectively when we remember you were just hugging Hugo Chavez in Caracas. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/149 "2011-11-24T06:57:33Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > No. The guys a self-righteous attention whore. > > Admit that you dont have a similar distraction from the role when watching Ronald Reagan or Charleton Heston act. I’ve never seen a Ronald Reagan film, mostly because few of his films are considered “classics”. If I had the chance, I’d probably watch _[Knute Rockne All American](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032676/)_. Would the fact that he was [a liberal Democrat Union man at the time](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan#Early_political_career) bug you? I have no problem at all with Heston’s work and that that he did excellent work in films where he was well cast. My favorite was _The Omega Man_ and thought he was great in epics like\* Ben Hur\* and _The Ten Commandments_. Interestingly, Heston also started out as a liberal Democrat and [supported the 1968 Gun Control Act following the assassination of JFK.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#Political_activism) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343.md?page=7)