I just finished watching The Majestic, a 2001 period drama starring Jim Carrey, and I was impressed by his acting, much like I was in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind earlier this year. It seems when I wasn’t looking, he’s turned himself into something more than just Gumby on speed.
While I don’t remember caring much for The Truman Show, I’ve decided to put it on my Netflix queue to watch again and see if my opinion’s changed in the past few years and to also put Man on the Moon on there as well since it’s his only other drama.
Has anyone else been pleasantly surprised by how good of a serious actor he’s shown himself capable of being?
I also enjoyed his performance in both Eternal Sunshine and The Majestic (save the scenery-chewing bit he did when he made his “realization” in The Majestic. I thought he overdid that with a vengeance). I think he has some definite talent on the drama side. In fact, I like his dramatic turns a lot more than his comedic ones, for the most part, mainly because his typical brand of humor doesn’t appeal to me.
The realization scened didn’t bother me at all but the grieving scene about ten minutes later was over the top. I am willing to forgive him for that as I find most actors just can’t cry very convincingly in my experience – they either look constipated from the effort or are a blubbery mess with little in-between.
And I definitely prefer his drama to his comedy. My humor tends to lean towards the dark and quirky though, so that’s no surprise.
I cannot stand him in anything, comedy or drama (though I’m sure he is a very nice fellow, I just hate his work).
Which means, of course, I only see him in movie trailers, TV promos and review shows. But from what I’ve seen, he has not yet learned the difference between “acting” and “making faces.”
This is my Goofy Face!
This is my Serious Face!
This is my Concerned Face!
This is my Really Goofy Face!
Yeah, I’ve really liked Carrey in his dramatic roles. He’s really growing into the part of a good dramatic actor (somewhat on a similar path as Robin Williams). He was brilliant in “Man on the Moon” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”.
Yes, Jim Carrey a great dramatic actor, but I’m surprised at how little credit he received for being a comedic actor. Rather, he received credit, but it didn’t seem to have any merit, if you know what I mean. I haven’t seen any other actor who would be capable of the performances in Ace Ventura or The Mask, yet these actor’s efforts are often overlooked simply because the role isn’t realistic.
I would almost think that these roles would be even more difficult (if not, at least on par) than the standard Oscar type roles, but as I’m not an actor, I don’t know for certain.
At times I think he is too earnest and direct in his emotional expression. For me, dramatic work is best when the actor seems to reveal feelings despite their attempt to repress them. I hope he continues to challenge himself while maintaining the clout to get off-beat movies made.
I thought Eternal Sunshine was a terrific movie, but it seems to be almost entirely forgotten now and thus its chances at the Oscars don’t look good. But the role that he really deserved to get an Oscar nom for was Bruce Almighty, where he single-handedly turned an awful screenplay into a hilarious movie.
Jim Carey is an excellent dramatic actor. He deserved an Oscar for ‘Man in the Moon’. I think he was channeling Andy Kaufman in that role.
And I agree about his physical comedy. He’s probably the closest we’ve seen in our generation of another Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin. Have you ever seen his standup routine? The old one, where he did impressions? They were Amazing. Not just voices - lots of people do voices. But he could mold his face like rubber, and make himself actually look like the person he was imitating. Rather like a caricature of that person, but the amount of accuracy he could manage was simply astounding. I wish he’d still do some of that.
Another ‘comedic’ actor with serious acting chops is Adam Sandler. He could mature into a great romantic leading man.
My daughter is a big fan of his, and I used to watch his movies with her. I hated them. Last one I saw was the ‘Truman Show’ … I’ve just refused to watch them since then. I don’t find his comedies at all funny.
Why the heck not? Lots of comedy guys have acting chops
Carrey’s In Living Color cohort Jamie Foxx is getting Oscar buzz already for his portrayal of Ray Charles. Robin Williams has proven he can carry a dramatic role, and so has Eddie Izzard. Sandler’s getting decent reviews in Spanglish. If I put my mind to it, I could probably come up with loads of “comedians” who can pull off credible drama.
Personally, I don’t like Jim Carrey, but I see no reason why his acting efforts should be pooh-poohed out of the box just because he’s better known for being an idiot.
Why absurd? I’ve suffered through enough of his movies to know I don’t like him. Do you watch every movie by someone you don’t like - just in case his acting improves??
I think my favorite thing I’ve seen him in was a Saturday Night Live sketch in which Jim Carrey (played by an SNL regular) and some old comedian like Mort Saul (played by Jim Carrey) were interviewed together on a talk show, so that Jim Carrey was sitting next to some guy impersonating him while he impersonated someone else.
The guy impersonating Carrey was being a total ass, so “Saul” started getting really mad, and to show him up, started impersonating Carrey, at which point “Carrey” started impersonating “Saul.” So you had Jim Carrey impersonating Mort Saul impersonating some other guy’s impersonation of Jim Carrey.
And you could absolutely understand what he was doing.
It was the funniest, cleverest impersonation I’ve ever seen.
Like I said, I don’t really like his comedy, and while I did like the Truman Show in general, his performance was nothing special. It wasn’t until I saw Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind that I found him to be more than capable of doing a serious, dramatic performance, which his Truman Show role was not. I almost gave Sunshine a miss because of my opinion of his past work. It was after seeing that that I decided to give “The Majestic” a try - and was glad I did.
By the same token, I can not stand Ben Stiller’s comedic performances, but I couldn’t imagine saying he has no dramatic ability whatsoever, because I have never seen him do anything in that realm.
And has already been mentioned, many scoffed when Robin Williams started to pursue more dramatic work, and he can more than pull it off.