He thought he was in a David Lynch movie.
(FTR, I didn’t have a problem with his performance. I did have some problems with the movie but they had more to do with direction.)
Saw the musical on stage as well as the filmed version, and the problem wasn’t just Broderick. The issue is more that while Max Bialystock is a “type” - a type that Zero Mostel typified but which Nathan Lane and the guy I saw onstage (Fred somebody) played well - Leo Bloom was specifically Gene Wilder. As such, no one will ever play the role as well.
And I thought Ferrell was fine for how the role was written. It was never going to be anything other than mugging and scenery-chewing no matter who did it.
In The Untouchables, Kevin Costner’s performance comes across to me as wooden, almost like he’s at a table read.
When the supporting cast is the likes of Sean Connery, Andy Garcia and Robert DeNiro it stands out even more… but even in a vaccuum it seems a miss to me.
Probably a credit to Brian DePalma if the “one bad performance” is the main star and the film still works.
I’m sorry, I know this is an unpopular opinion, but I can’t watch Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid because that piece of shit song by Burt Bacharach “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” stinks up the whole production. Even if I skip that part I can feel it out there sucking the life out of it. I know it got an Academy Award for Best Music, it’s unbearable.
I really like that song and the way they incorporated it into the film and the chemistry between Newman and Ross was charming imo. But there is no right nor wrong in art.
Kate McKinnon in anything. She’s passable as a clown on SNL but she can’t act at all.
You should have seen the stage version. Cady Huffman was PHENOMINAL! Uma in the movie version was a disappointment for me! Cady had a body much more designed for Max yelling “Flaunt it, Baby! Flaunt it!”, and when she belted it out, SHE BELTED!
She won a Tony for that role, but the producers wanted a “name” for the movie.
In the original, Zero Mostel played Max as this world-weary guy. You could see how fate had crapped all over him. Nathan Lane played the part with far too much energy.
Yes, Will Ferrell was horrible, but at least Brad Oscar (Franz in the Broadway production) had a role (incredibly minor) in the movie. He lost the Tony to Gary Beach (Roger DeBris in both movie and Broadway).
Didn’t have to be. See Kenneth Mars in that role in the 67 original.
I really should have enjoyed A Fish Called Wanda, but Kevin K. ruined the whole thing.
Quentin. I’ve never really understood the criticism; he’s perfectly fine as a “confused and still kind of sleepy guy.”
Wow, he is the standout and breakout performance of the movie. He won the Oscar for it.
He’s amazing in it.
I agree about Kline in AFCW, however he tried that over the top shtick in Sophies Choice and it ruined the film for me. He was so obnoxious that he ruined the sad and reflective mood of the film imo.
Christopher’s older brother, James Mitchum, was in another John Wayne file, “In Harm’s Way”. Just absolutely terrible. Is there such a thing as an ‘anti-actor’? If so, he’s it.
Kenneth Mars was pretty OTT as it was, but the role in the musical was even more exaggerated.
“A Countess from Hong Kong” Marlon Brando’s character should have been played madcap - like Tony Curtis in “Some Like it Hot”. We should have seen a character frantically falling to pieces as his world crumbles around him, which would have played beautifully against Sophia Loren’s character. Instead we get a detached, “stiff upper lip” portrayal.
Yes, and I don’t agree with madsircool at all about Crispin Glover’s performance in River’s Edge. Crispin’s character is on the other end of the spectrum from the other characters’ apathetic reactions to the world around them. Crispin’s character sees an opportunity to make an exciting game out of saving the killer from the police. He’s toked up on speed, and lost in a fantasy world of anti-hero movies. He gets more and more frustrated when no one, not even the killer wants to play along with him. I think he gave an antic performance that truly set off the aimlessness of all the wasted lives portrayed in the film. If he would’ve been more restrained, he only would’ve faded into the background with everyone else.
I sort of agree, but then, I see the woodeness of Costner’s performance as sort of an homage to Robert Stack’s stone faced performance in the original TV show.
Michael Madsen in Sin City. He’s awful. Just awful. I-can’t-believe-they-paid-him-for-this-performance awful. He brings the entire film to a screeching halt, IMO.
I’ve never seen Leo be anything other than Leo (bar Gilbert Grape) and I like Diaz generally but in this film she was meant to be what - 16??
De Caprio and Diaz casting killed the film for me.
MiM
In an alternate universe, someone else was cast in the Elliott Ness role and there’s a discussion on the Outernet saying “Can you believe it was almost Kevin Costner in that part? I can’t picture it.”