Holy fuck, have you SEEN Rod Steiger in The January Man?
The director should have said, “Rod, you’re at about a 400. We’re gonna need you at a 7.”
More examples?
I nominate Rod Steiger as well but for Amytiville Horror. Not everytime he’s onscreen but the scene where he tried to convince the other priests the house is eeeeeeeviiiillllllllll.
Al Pacino in Scent of A Woman
Hoo-ah! did that suck.
Heh. I was thinking Al Pacino in Devil’s Advocate. Then I thought of Dog Day Afternoon. Then I thought of Scarface. Then I gave up and just thought Al Pacino.
“Release the Kraken!”
-Sir Laurence Olivier
'nuff said
Lets look at Keano’s over acting trying to copy the great man. I Win! I Win! I’m a lawyer, thats my Job that’s what I do!
Or does that not count coz you said ‘good actors’ ?
Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast. “NO! NO! NO! NO!”
Jeremy Irons in Dungeons And Dragons
Brian
Ditto Ben Kinsgley- freakin brilliant. Also in a good way- Gary Oldman in The Professional.
Overacting in a bad way- Jack Palance, The Big Knife.
I am tapping the side of my nose with my index finger. I don’t know how he got as famous as he is. Pacino is painful to watch.
Jack Nicholson in The Departed. During the “rat” scene, he was practically a cartoon.
Gary Oldman in The Fifth Element.
Actually, I thought Sir Laurence was the model of restraint in Clash of the Titans, if you compared it to his performances in
A Little Romance
The Boys from Brazil
The Jigsaw Man (Olivier and Caine, together again, years after Sleuth, hamming it up!)
The aforementioned Betsy
and … The Jazz Singer!
Richard Burton is often cited as egregious in this regard, especially in The Exorcist II
Vincent Price often had to reign it in – too often to mention, but especially in the “funny” Corman Poe outings.
Robert DeNiro in “Analyse this” Trying to be an emotional mafia man just made me cringe.
Jack Lemmon, in Irma La Douce, but only when he was playing the faux Englishman. It’s as painful to watch as Mickey Rooney’s portrayal of a Japanese man in Breakfast At Tiffany’s.
Probably because he was absolutely brilliant in the 70s: The Godfather films, The Panic in Needle Park, Serpico, Scarecrow and Dog Day Afternoon–and anyone who says he “overacts” in DDA has never seen the film (or has only seen the “Attica!” clip).
He’s still great now (Glengarry Glen Ross, The Insider, Donnie Brasco, Insomnia) but he has also become somewhat of a caricature of himself–though nowhere in the same league that DeNiro has. Still, it doesn’t help that Pacino’s Oscar was for something as bad as Scent.
Still, I was going to enter this thread to cite Devil’s Advocate a ridiculous movie that’s saved by Al’s tremendous appetite for the scenery–a perfectly appropriate route to take given his material and co-stars.
Yep yep yep on all of those, except Scarecrow, which I haven’t seen. I’d add, though I think I’m one of the few people in the universe who liked it, Bobby Deerfield. And ok, maybe there was a bit of overacting in the courtroom scene in And Justice For All, but it was earned because of what came before, and he was great in the rest of the movie.
co-stars? Plural? Who are you including in that? I hope it’s not Charlize Theron, because she was moving and understated and absolutely convincing to me. I think she gave the best performance in the movie. (And I happen to like Keanu a lot)
Anthony Hopkins as an over-the-top, whacked-out Professor Van Helsing in Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
Oh God, I watched that movie and wondered who the hell the poor schmuck playing the villain was. Then I found out it was Jeremy Irons and I was in shock. I mean, he’s an accomplished actor - not a bad fantasy caricature.