I’d pick another DiCaprio film, The Revenant. I know the guy even got an Oscar for it put he just didn’t fit into this movie or the role at all for me. Whereas someone like Tom Hardy disappeared into his role and felt exactly like a guy from that time period, DiCaprio (even dirtied up) still felt out of place in that setting. He just didn’t have the size or weathered deep voice to pull off the character.
He was quite light on his feet in Pulp Fiction.
Agreed. It was a make up call for The Wolf of Wall Street.
Overall I thought that movie was pretty overrated. Inarritu made it look pretty, but damn he was really impressed with himself while he did it and he was going to make damn sure you knew it. Terrance Malick would have considered it a bit overdone.
His character was “guy who acts like George Clooney giving stilted line readings”? I guess if that’s what it says in the script, then he knocked it out of the park.
If that’s your interpretation, then the same applies to Holly Hunter, who was doing the same thing.
Rosie O’Donnelly in’Riding the Bus with my Sister.’ One of the most unintentionally funny performances I’ve ever seen.
Maybe Michael Douglas in ’ Falling Down.’ I saw it as a black comedy. Don’t know if that was the director’s intention.
Alright, I’ll say it: Elijah Woods’ Frodo was simply not very good. I cringe watching him onscreen and mostly just want his scenes to be over so I can watch something good.
I think that was fully intended, it was directed by Joel Schumacher after all. One of my favorite bits is when Douglas’s character is (mostly unintentionally) terrorizing everyone in the fast food restaurant because he wants a breakfast sandwich. He finally gets it and it looks nothing like the menu picture and he asks “Can anyone tell me what’s wrong with this?” and the little kid is the one who raises his hand.
Downsizing failed for the opposite reason; the lead role was intended for Paul Giamatti but they ended up casting Matt Damon instead. Now I like Damon and think he’s a good actor but this wasn’t a role for him. Paul Safranek was supposed to be this schlub who slowly got his life together. But it’s impossible to see Damon as the loser he’s supposed to be for most of the story. My sense of belief doesn’t stretch far enough for scenes where Matt Damon can’t find a woman willing to go on a date with him.
The Bank Job failed for a similar reason. Jason Statham played Terry Leather, who was supposed to be a lowlife criminal who’s in over his head trying to pull off a big bank robbery. But this is Jason Stathom; we’ve seen him in too many movies where he’s a typical action hero doing impossible things without breaking a sweat. We can’t accept him as a character who’s struggling to accomplish something.
Off on a tangent but I’ve said before that Tarantino doesn’t get enough credit for his skills at bringing out great performances from his actors. Sure, he works with some great actors. But he also gets amazing performances out of actors who haven’t otherwise shown that kind of talent.
Mandy Patinkin in Fiddler on the Roof.
You’re not wrong… but then, his role in the books and the movie is to be the boring guy, while everyone around him sparkles with life and eccentricity.
And, russian heel, in the right part, Dany Devito is an excellent character actor. He needs the right character, but so do many character actors.
Oddly, I thought Michael Keaton was the perfect Bruce Wayne. But not a very good Batman. Clooney was fine as Wayne also. But yeah, not as Bats.
I disagree. He played the “cool” genie perfectly, while Robin did the “funny” genie.
He was fine in Grease, nothing after, imho.
Travolta tried his best in the American Crime Story series, really tried his best to be Robert Shapiro, and it simple didn’t work.
That’s saying a hell of a lot in a series in which Cuba Gooding Jr. played OJ Simpson and seemed to be trying to act even crazier than Simpson ever could have been, and David Schwimmer, who will be known as Ross Geller until the day he dies, was Robert Kardashian… and yet both guys totally worked. (Courtney Vance as Johnnie Cochran was incredible.)
I’d probably add every actor who has played “Clark Kent” to this list except for Christopher Reeve. Reeve seemed to be only actor who bothered to differentiate between the “Clark Kent” character and the “Superman” character and it’s what makes his performance in the Superman movies so memorable and iconic.
I think Damon does a good job of playing an indecisive loser but yeah, Giamatti would have been so much better in the role. However, the failure of the film wasn’t Damon’s fault; it was a film with a good cast, an interesting premise and no coherent plot. Giamatti wouldn’t have saved that.
On a similar note, I often wish they’d cast pretty much anyone but Keanu Reeves in The Devil’s Advocate. There are films I like Reeves in, but he really dragged an otherwise stellar film down here. Imagine Edward Norton in the role, or even Brad Pitt (who could actually do a southern accent).
Produced by O’Donnell.
Someone upthread noted that vanity projects often go sideways when the actor/producer casts herself in a key role. Exhibit A right here. Many actors don’t seem to have the self-awareness to stay within their strike zone. (Which is very narrow in Rosie O’Donnell’s case.)
Patrick Swayze in pretty much everything he ever did. Often his effort and sincerity were enough to rescue the project from its own script, other times it was “Next of Kin” or “Roadhouse”.