Bruce Payne beat him, though.
“Give me the ROD!”
We’ve gotta mention Ed Harris. He started major mastication with his second movie role, in George Romero’s underseen Knightriders.
Jack Black in High Fidelity.
Tina!!! Get out of that bed!!! NO WIRE HANGERS!! E-V-E-R !!!
Tina! Bring me the AXE!
Such a great scene.
Jon Voight, specifically here.
Do I win anything? 
You guys all forgot about the MASTER!
William Shatner, Star Trek II!
KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!
I don’t think anyone could chaw the pasteboard like dear old Charles Laughton.
“SAAANCTUARY!”
He didn’t even have to go over the top to steal every scene he was ever in, IMO, whether he was Captain Bligh or Sir Wilfred or Horatio Hobson or King Henry VIII. He was just splendid, and splendidly flambuoyant.
I was going to say that scene in the beginning when he’s the only one alive on the spaceship. “I FEEL LONELY!”
Of course, Charlton Heston parodied his own scenophagic tendencies quite nicely in Wayne’s World II. Clip
Damn, I can’t remember the name. What was the movie which ends with someone ranting and raving as an oil refinery blows up around him?
White Heat, with Jimmy Cagney? “Made it, Ma! Top of the world!”
Example of good scenery-chewing: Stanley Tucci, in his meltdown scene in The Core. It’s a knowingly dopey movie, and a lot of people can’t tolerate its wholesale embrace of its pulpy origins, but in the scene where Tucci totally and completely loses it, for those 60 or 90 seconds, the movie is transcendantly entertaining to watch.
I had this as part of my answering machine message for about a year. A few seconds from earlier in the scene, then “Hi this is Otto, I can’t come to the phone right now as I’m doing a little light gardening. Please leave a message.” “TINA! BRING ME THE AXE!” <beep>
Another great scene-chewing moment from that film, of so many, are the continuation of the wire hanger scene when Joan goes nuts with the Bon-Ami (or was that Little Dutch Boy) and you can hear little bits of semi-mangled dialogue about Joan’s growing up in the slums of Oklahoma. The little girl who played the daughter held her own, though, with one of the best over-the-top readings of the line “Jesus Christ…Jesus Christ…” outside of a De Mille epic. Diana Scarwid, who played the older Christine, also gets honorable mention for “Because I am not…one of your FANS!”
Can you tell I’ve seen that movie far too many times?
John Turturro in every scene he’s in in Transformers.
God, that’s so funny, when I first read this I thought you said Jeremy Irons was in Dungeons & Dragons.
You crack me up.
Do you count good over-the-top in a good movie? Because “STELLLLLAAA!!!” comes to mind, if you do.
David Caruso in everything he ever did. I can’t decide whether I find him cringe-worthy or entertainingly laughable. When he stands at an angle with his sunglasses of justice in CSI Miami, and delivers a cheesy line with his ridiculous pauses and emphasis, I am compelled to watch at least for a moment.
As long as we have so many from Mommie Dearest the adolescent Tina was pretty good as well.
“Because I am not one of your F-A-N-S!!!”
Ahem.
You think I would let a Mommie Dearest post go by without mentioning it?
Although I did let one get by without mentioning “DON’T FUCK WITH ME FELLAS! This ain’t my first time at the rodeo.”