Sorry, Stimpy, just not my idea of great acting or stellar entertainment. He always strikes me as someone who either tries too hard or doesn’t give a damn. Regardless, I do not like him.
Now, that Barney Rubble - what an actor!!!
i think it’s called ‘devil may care [but i don’t and i sold my soul years back and he owns me but doesn’t control me]’ acting.
haven’t seen viva las vegas, so can’t comment on ole barney - kidding, just kidding [hands up in air in don’t shoot notion]
I loved that movie. Murray as Hunter S. was beautiful.
PVB is a very tony suburb (ooooh, how that would piss them off) of Jacksonville, FL. It’s the home of the World Golf Hall of Fame,I swear I didn’t make that up.
I’ll back up Lnix on that - I’ve driven thru PVB, and I heard the stuff in the news about the Caddyshack plan… I’m not a golfer and I live far enough away from there not to care. I’m just doing my bit for a fellow First-Coaster’s credibility! 
I saw Charlie’s Angels - not a great movie. Kinda funny, but so over-the-top it made me cry. The fight scenes were a mix of incredibly fun to watch while being rediculously impossible. The story was kitchy, and the characters paper thin. And then there was “the Chad” - what the hell was that?
Bill Murray as Bosley - so incredibly lame I was begging for them to kill him.
That movie and this thread got me to thinking, and blessedwolf is right - he really only plays one character. Even the reasonbly good stuff is pretty much the same. See Scrooged and Groundhog Day.
The Razor’s Edge was Bill Murray? I looked it up on IMDB, and sure enough. He even got a writing credit.
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0087980
Okay, maybe one role not playing that same character.
Bill Murray rules.
'Nuff said.
OK, first of all Bill Murray is a great actor, however many of his characters appear very similar. The Man Who Knew Too Little, I loved it. I went to the theatre expecting to hate it. Thinking it would be like watching Chevy Chase in Vacation XI- A trip to Mars. I was surprised, it worked for me. I thought it was very funny.
Of Note. He is also capable of good character acting (that is… characters vvery different than in the typical Bill Murray films. Rushmore, Caddyshack, and more.
What is horrible is to see a horrible job of acting by Dan Akroyd in Caddyshack 2 (in a similar role).
Chevy Chase as previously mentioned…I hate to say it because there was a day when I loved his work and I still love the original Vacation… has only one character and I can’t bring myself to watch it. Actors with the Chevy Chase Syndrome are not actors, they are comedians with a shelf life. Bill Murray is not one of these.
I would say Bill Murray is more analogous to Steve Martin. He really can’t pull off his old classic funny man stuff: [The Jerk: “He’s shooting the cans! That man hates these cans! Get away from the cans! More cans!”] But he as evolved in to a good character actor…and remains funny.
Did you actually stand in line and pay real money to see “Charlie’s Angels”?
Needs2know
He also played pretty level in “Wild Things”…
I agree with Masie. Notice how Steve Martin doesn’t always take the comedic roles anymore? He knkows taht where his strength is, and so he dabbles in it (Loved “LA Story”) but on a different level.
Murray will hopefully do the same. Because, true enough, the straight stuff keeps him minor. But that could be as a result of all the outrageous stuff he’s done in the past. You end up watching the movie going “Okay, Bill… waiitng for it. You gotta have a funny line in there SOMEwhere… I mean C-mon ON! You’e BILL, man!”
Alas…
So the viewer is disappointed. “Whaddya mean ‘straight guy’?”
I’d like to see him do something more “cerebrally” funny i the future. Take the same road as Steve Martin. I think he’s proved (as MArtin has) that he can do serious and straight, but now it could be good for him to pull out the clever humour and stick him in the middle ground.
oh God…
I really do have to slow my fingers down when I type, don’t I?
Please excuse all of those ugly, evil, nasty typos.
shrink
Watch ``Quick Change’’ starring Bill Murray, Geena Davis and Randy Quaid. Murray’s funniest movie, and one of my favorites.
One of my favorite performances of his: in Tootsie. Or am I the only one who remembers that?
I also thought Scrooged was very good. It starts out with his typical Murray schtick and becomes quite moving by the end.
Of course you all know John Belushi was supposed to play his role in Ghostbusters, and Murray was picked to replace him; but I thought I read that he agreed to do it only if he could have a contract to do three “serious” movies - he was getting tired of the comedy. Unfortunately the first serious movie was The Razor’s Edge, which tanked (and I think a lot of his fans went expecting him to be funny), so apparently the contract went out the window.
Quick Change is very funny - one of those recommend-it-to-your-friends hidden gems. Murray plays a (very) disgruntled city employee who robs a bank. The whole movie is Murray and girlfriend Geena Davis and buddy Randy Quaid trying desperately to catch a plane out of the country before the cops catch up to them. Very clever, tense caper movie. Some goof in the publicity machine, there. And Groundhog Day is a classic, nuff said.
Murray seems kind of old and tired to me, sad to say. He’s not angry enough anymore. He’s playing a lot of golf and enjoying life too much.
[HIJACK]
I would have though Woody LIKED eating at the childrens’ table!
[/HIJACK]
No. I clearly remember the big revelation scene, where people on set and people watching TV were all shrieking and carrying on. Murray’s character, the alcoholic “playwright”, merely holds his beer a bit more slackly and slumps a fraction more.
Imitating Tom Bosley is tough. All there is to that character is the voice. You got it or you don’t got it.
He’ll do better next time. And there’s always a next time for people in blockbusters.