What’s bizarre is I’ve seen him in interviews, and the guy actually can display the full range of human emotion, looking quite natural all the while. So why can’t he even fake it on screen? The way the Keanu acts makes me wonder if he’d float on water. Howdy Doody could probably chew gum more realistically than he can manage to look even sentient while being filmed. I’ve seen animatronic Abe Lincolns that had more range. And while he’s certainly very good looking, I find it difficult to believe that anybody is so good looking they warrant that many new opportunities to saunter in and fuck it up the same deadpan way they did the last time they had a go at acting.
To call him a terrible actor would be to accuse him of trying to act. I’m not so sure he’s even done that.
You’re joking. My first serious girlfriend dragged me out to see A Walk in the Clouds, and any shred of respect I had for Keanu Reeves as an actor was completely trashed after seeing that movie. He was utterly unconvincing, stiff, and out of his element in that movie. Keanu Reeves in a romantic role? Pass the bucket. He had all the emotion of a robot in that movie.
This is what I mean. Sometimes, with a really bad actor, you can see them acting (think Captain Janeway in the Star Trek: Voyager series). I don’t see Keanu acting. No, wait, that didn’t come out right. Well, you know what I mean.
And you’re all just jealous cause he’s sooooo pretty.
I wish it were that, because I really enjoyed the first Matix movie. Looking constantly stoned and bemused worked when the lead was a guy finding out he’s been living in a spooge-filled pod his whole life, dreaming away in a cyberfantasy.
But the second and third acts were such a disaster they’ve essentially ruined the first movie for me. No, dammit. I wantedReloaded and Revolutions to not suck complete and total ass, and they did, in no small part because a railroad tie could affect a more messianic presence than K.R. Certainly there were other hideous flaws that caused Matrix II and III to wind up being the flatulent bombs they were, but watching K.R. “evolve” into “The One” was like being told over and over that I was a gibbering, credulous idiot. I get enough of that here! Why would seek out that experience in the theater in my leasure time? Jealousy? Bah!
Very narrow range, but in the right role he can do a good job. I liked him in Bill & Ted, Parenthood, River’s Edge & My Own Private Idaho. Not much else though.
I don’t think he’s a horrible actor, but like others have mentioned I just don’t think he can talk right when he’s delivering lines. They all seem to have the exact same inflection. I enjoyed Constantine, but there are some parts in there where his delivery of the lines just completely ruins the movie for me. It takes me out of the entire experience.
You’d think with the thousands of people trying to get acting work they could pick somebody better for these films than a person who’s best compliment is “decent enough”. And yes, as good looking too.
Keanu’s an awesome comic actor, though. I recently saw Point Break for the first time, and it has more laugh-out-loud moments than almost any comedy I’ve ever seen, most of them thanks to Keanu’s efforts to act like an FBI agent. He’s even funnier than Patrick Swayze.
I thought he was actually quite good in The Gift. I am so hesitant to see any KR movie because I jusy know I’ll spend the whole time thinking about The Matrix, but I didn’t have a single Matrix flashback while watching The Gift.
I think The matrix (which I actually enjoyed, despite its flaws) would have been ruined without Reeves (who I agree, is not a terribly versatile or talented actor); the role absolutely required a sort of permanently-confused deadpan perplexity and demeanour of uncertainty - now it might well be the case that Reeves isn’t acting at all when he shows those attributes, but putting a more animated, confident actor in the role would have made it a completely different movie - much more of the stereotypical superhero thing, of which we already have sufficient.
That’s what I mean - dude makes us laugh, what more do ya want?
2 scenes come to mind:
1# A Walk In The Clouds, when Victoria and Paul are on the bed making out and caressing. He turns to her and says something to the effect of:
“I want you Victoria. You can’t imagine how I want you. But I’m not free. And I won’t hurt you that way. I won’t”.
He stares at her blankly for about two seconds, and then with all the grace and passion of a robot - swings his head in the opposite direction and walks out of the room. It’s like the director was saying, “now turn passionately Keanu!!! Quickly, like you can’t stand it anymore!!!”
If you watch out for this particular bit I promise it will look funny.
2# FFC’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The scene where he gets into the carriage with Mina (towards the mid-end portion of the movie), and he sees a rather eerie (younger) Count D staring back at him.
“It is the MAN himself!!!” cries Keanu, doing the definitive bland impersonation of someone shocked out of his wits, as Mina (Ryder) attempts to console him. You have to wonder why with material like this, the director didn’t do a retake. Then again, considering the talent involved you’d have to figure that was as good as it got. Once again I strongly urge you to watch this scene.
gotta give props to Bob for bringing up Point Break, which is one of my favorite movies. Keanu cannot act at all in this gig, and I think he is reading phonetic cue cards just off camera (e.g., <use breathy voice> “you’re cold because you are losing blood” <pause> “i hope it was worth it”)
I very much enjoy his films, but he canot be considered anything more than a competent actor.
Doing a little Keanu research (I wanted to find out if he was actually a smart dude or not), I found out:
(from here). Whoa. Bummer, dude. I’ll give Keanu full props for keeping his private life private, not using every little hiccup* to promote a movie (Tom Cruise/Katie Holmes, I’m looking at both of you).
*Which is not to say a terrible thing like that was a hiccup.
I don’t know if he is an idiot or not, I just think he’s a worse actor than Shatner, who has been a long running poster child for bad acting.
He is a fairly bad actor and yet has more range than Keanu.
Shatner is actually smart and funny and by most accounts, selfish or at least insecure. None of this affects his acting ability.
Cruise, Reeves and always come across as the same character in different situations.
Reeves is smart enough to not do dumb interviews and show if he’s an idiot. Credit to him.
Cruise constantly and consistently exposes a stupid streak in interviews. (Conclusion drawn from interviews, no factual proof)
Tom Hanks is a great actor and very smart. (Conclusion drawn from interviews, no factual proof)
Ben Stein is even smarter and a very marginal actor. (I think this is an accepted view)
I don’t think intelligence has a lot to do with acting.
Okay, here’s a more accurate story of what happened:
(From November 5, 2003).
Also, that article quotes some of Keanu’s co-stars saying he is actually a very smart, very funny, talented guy. I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt; he’s smart enough to stay out of the Hollywood fishbowl, and that counts for something.
I thought he showed pretty decent range in Something’s Gotta Give. I hated the movie itself, but I was surprised to discover that it was Keanu doing the role, because he seemed so human.
