# Movies that make you totally reevaluate your opinion of an actor.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-make-you-totally-reevaluate-your-opinion-of-an-actor/178468
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [May 30, 2003, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-make-you-totally-reevaluate-your-opinion-of-an-actor/178468 "2003-05-30T07:15:57Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-make-you-totally-reevaluate-your-opinion-of-an-actor/178468/1 "2003-05-30T07:15:57Z")
I just watched _I Am Sam_ again, and was as completely overwhelmed as the first time I saw it.
Of course, it’s a top-flight film through-and-through, and one of the most amazing collaborative efforts I’ve ever seen, but what I find really _surprising_ about it is the revelation that Sean Penn is a profoundly gifted actor.
I really had no idea. I am chagrined to admit that I avoided _I Am Sam_, against the best advice, for quite some time, specifically because I was skeptical about his ability to pull off a serious dramatic role.
Of course, the scales fell from my eyes less than ten minutes into the first viewing. What a performance! What an heart-rending, eye-watering, chest-tightening, snot-summoning display of stagecraft!
If his contribution to the film was even the _slightest_ bit flawed, the whole project would have been a embarrassing disaster.
For me, this movie totally reverses what the name “Sean Penn” signifies on a playbill. It no longer screams “Run away!” but rather, “Look closer.”
I guess _Pulp Fiction_ did the same thing for me with regard to both John Travolta and Bruce Willis.
So, now that I’ve got that off my chest, what movies have left y’all with a radically altered perception, (for better or for worse,) of a particular talent?
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-make-you-totally-reevaluate-your-opinion-of-an-actor/178468/2 "2003-05-30T07:28:00Z")
Have you seen _Dead Man Walking_?
I don’t know about seeing an actor I really hate in a role that’s made me change my mind… I don’t recall really having that sort of change. I reluctantly admit that Bruce Willis WAS better in his tender moments in _Pulp Fiction_ than I thought he could be, but his other fare is stupid enough that it confirms my general feelings about him.
I can say that certain movies have won me over for their stars permanently - the prime example being Denzel Washington in _Malcolm X_.
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### Author:  [@Tertius01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tertius01)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-make-you-totally-reevaluate-your-opinion-of-an-actor/178468/3 "2003-05-30T07:34:58Z")
My opinion of Brad Pitt went up after seeing him in _12 Monkeys_. I could probably say the same about Bruce Willis.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-make-you-totally-reevaluate-your-opinion-of-an-actor/178468/4 "2003-05-30T07:42:07Z")
Heh. Wish I could just mentally flip through every movie I’ve seen. I’m not a Brad Pitt fan, but I liked him in _12 Monkeys_ - and even more in _Fight Club_.
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### Author:  [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-make-you-totally-reevaluate-your-opinion-of-an-actor/178468/5 "2003-05-30T09:59:16Z")
The first movie that came to mind when reading the thread title was “The Truman Show”. Hey, Jim Carrey isn’t a complete idiot after all! What a performance.
I’ll second Pulp Fiction with regard to Travolta and Willis.
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### Author:  [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-make-you-totally-reevaluate-your-opinion-of-an-actor/178468/6 "2003-05-30T09:59:56Z")
Oh, and Brad Pitt in “Snatch”. That just blows away anything else he’s ever done!
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### Author:  [@bifar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bifar)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-make-you-totally-reevaluate-your-opinion-of-an-actor/178468/7 "2003-05-30T10:01:18Z")
Elijah Wood in _LOTR_. Yeah, I know it’s obvious. But I’d seen him _The Faculty_ and _The Ice Storm_ and thought merely that he was kinda odd-looking, but interesting. But there’s something about the role of Frodo that really makes the most of everything he’s got – his strangely beautiful features and his general aspect of goodness and otherworldliness. And I think Elijah acts his pants off on the screen – I think his is the best performance of LOTR, actually. Okay, I’m going to stop gushing now.
Also: Bogie in \* A Lonely Place\*. I though he could only do Casablanca-style cynical roles until I saw that film.
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### Author:  [@Pixelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixelle)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-make-you-totally-reevaluate-your-opinion-of-an-actor/178468/8 "2003-05-30T10:14:21Z")
**Johnny Depp** in Edward Scisscorhands. Up until I saw him in that I’d dismissed him as just another teen idol actor. I’ve been impressed with most of his performances since that film too.
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### Author:  [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-make-you-totally-reevaluate-your-opinion-of-an-actor/178468/9 "2003-05-30T10:44:43Z")
Brandon Fraser, in _Gods and Monsters_. Up until that, I’d thought of him as a just a big, thick lunk. And, okay, here here’s still playing a lunk, but it’s a lunk with some character subtlety and emotional depth!
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-make-you-totally-reevaluate-your-opinion-of-an-actor/178468/10 "2003-05-30T12:14:37Z")
Steve Martin in **Pennies from Heaven**. I thought before that he was a second-rate comedian (Martin always appeared to be funnier than he actually was). This showed he was really an actor (who took on the role of a comedian).
Bert Lancaster in **Atlantic City**. He had always seemed very wooden to me, but from this movie on, he showed his softer side and was just terrific.
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### Author:  [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-make-you-totally-reevaluate-your-opinion-of-an-actor/178468/11 "2003-05-30T12:51:13Z")
I’ll second Johnny Depp…especially after “What’s eating gilbert Grape”
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### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-make-you-totally-reevaluate-your-opinion-of-an-actor/178468/12 "2003-05-30T13:08:20Z")
I saw **Don Johnson** in a TV version of _The Long, Hot Summer_ in the mid-'80s, and was surprised to note, “Damn—he really can _act_ when he puts his mind to it!”
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### Author:  [@davidw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidw)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-make-you-totally-reevaluate-your-opinion-of-an-actor/178468/13 "2003-05-30T13:09:06Z")
Hugh Grant in _About A Boy_. I finally understood his appeal.
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### Author:  [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-make-you-totally-reevaluate-your-opinion-of-an-actor/178468/14 "2003-05-30T13:59:44Z")
Russel Crowe in “A Beautiful Mind”
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, I never would have expected such a powerful performance from the “Gladiator” guy.
I also second Brad Pitt in “Snatch”
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### Author:  [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-make-you-totally-reevaluate-your-opinion-of-an-actor/178468/15 "2003-05-30T14:09:40Z")
Dang, my favorites are already taken:
Jim Carrey in **The Truman Show** (and **Man in the Moon** )
Brendan Fraser in **Gods and Monsters** (although it’s possible that even _I_ would look good opposite Ian McKellen)
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### Author:  [@Elret](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elret)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-make-you-totally-reevaluate-your-opinion-of-an-actor/178468/16 "2003-05-30T14:17:40Z")
I couldn’t agree with you more, **davidw**. I came in here specifically to post _About a Boy_.
I also changed my mind (for the better) on Burt Reynolds after _Boogie Nights_.
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### Author:  [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-make-you-totally-reevaluate-your-opinion-of-an-actor/178468/17 "2003-05-30T14:24:42Z")
Frank Sinatra in “The Manchurian Candidate.” I hadn’t seen him in much, of course, but I’d just thought he was one of those annoying singers who went on the silver screen because they could. That movie changed my mind.
It also made me entirely and utterly unable to see Angela Lansbury as that nice Jessica Fletcher anymore.
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### Author:  [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-make-you-totally-reevaluate-your-opinion-of-an-actor/178468/18 "2003-05-30T14:34:47Z")
A few who come to mind:
1. In his Brat pack heyday, I thought Rob Lowe was a pretty boy with no acting talent. When I saw him in “About Last Night” (which was actually David Mamet’s “Sexual Perversity in Chicago”), I was surprised by how good he was. And he handled Aaron Sorkin’s witty dialogue superbly on “The West Wing.”
2. For a long time, I hated Keanu Reeves in anything but sumb surfer-dude roles. He was convincing in the “Bill & Ted” movies, but he came across as a dumb surfer dude in ALL his roles (while watching “Dangerous Liaisons” and “Bram Stoker’s Dracula,” I kept wondering what’s a California surfer dude doing in 18th century France or 19th century England?). Oh, he rarelyruined movies, but I liked “Parenthood” and “Speed” in SPITE of him, not because of him.
But, astonishingly, I actually found myself liking him in “The Replacements” and in “Hardball.” He’s still not a great actor, but he’s grown up enough and improved enough to be a solid actor, rather than a one-note embarrassment.
1. I never thought much of Richard Gere, and I resisted seeing any film in which he was the leading man. I just couldn’t bring myself to root for him in any movie where he was supposed to be the hero… so he won me over by playing a bad guy superbly! He was just so great as the evil, corrupt cop Dennis Peck in “Internal Affairs.” Somehow, I never had a problem with his acting after that.
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### Author:  [@Second\_Guest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Second_Guest)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-make-you-totally-reevaluate-your-opinion-of-an-actor/178468/19 "2003-05-30T14:37:19Z")
I’ve _almost_ changed my opinion of Russell Crowe having seen **A Beautiful Mind** , but I’m still not quite there.
As for a complete turn-around, I couldn’t stand Renée Zellweger (I don’t know if it was the squinty eyes, the pained facial expressions, the absence of any discernible personality…) until I saw **Bridget Jones’s Diary**. Even then, I was doubtful about how she’d do in **Chicago** (she can sing and dance?!), but from all accounts she seems to have pulled it off nicely. I’m a fan.
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### Author:  [@dil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dil)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-make-you-totally-reevaluate-your-opinion-of-an-actor/178468/20 "2003-05-30T15:02:57Z")
Chicago: Richard Gere was just amazing… who would have thought the man could sing AND dance???
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