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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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. Would the fact that he was a liberal Democrat Union man at the time 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.