Great performances, bad films

[dave durbin]

Since there's so much hype around the Oscars and who's going to win and all that, out of curiousity -and general boredom- I was interested to see if people had any examples of great performances in mediocre -or just not very good- movies. I was thinking of:

Julie Christie & Nick Nolte in Afterglow
Richard Lewis in Drunks
Mickey Rourke in Angel Heart
Boris Karloff in Targets
Kathleen Turner in The Man with Two Brains or Serial Mom
Kieran Culkin in Igby Goes Down
Richard Gere(gulp) & Diane Lane in Unfaithful
Eric Roberts in King of the Gypsies or Star 80


Please contribute any other examples.

[Perfume V]

I'd question whether Targets was a bad film - it's still my favourite Bogdanovich film, and asmart example of early postmodernist film-making.

Ones that leap instantly to mind would be Jodie Foster in Contact - tree-hugging hippie gibberish, but a fine example of Foster's ability to project resilience and dignity without appearing too worthy; Natassja Kinski in Cat People, where she was unfortunate enough to give her best performance ever in one of the worst remakes ever; Daniel Day-Lewis in The Age of Innocence - I dare you to stay awake when he's not on screen; and Jennifer Connelly in A Beautiful Mind, recipient of the only Oscar Ron Howard's execrable film deserved.

[dave durbin]

You've also reminded me of other examples:

Jodie Foster in Panic Room (she and the young girl who played her daughter were wonderful but the film was nothing more than a bourgeois B-movie that lacked suspense)

Michelle Pfeiffer in Batman Returns (she was great, Keaton was fine, I love Tim Burton, but Danny DeVito was terrible and the movie dragged on and on and on and on and on and on.........)

Dee Wallace in Cujo (she's really effective, surprisingly so, but the movie was pretty cheesy -not that I didn't think it would be mind you)


Sissy Spacek in Crimes of the Heart (Spacek is without peer when she plays an outsider or an -for lack of a better term- 'eccentric' character -like here, Badlands, Carrie, Straight Story, even Blast from the Past!- but I do not like the plays of Beth Henley and this is a perfect example of why: dull, grating Southern caricatures saying second rate Tennesse Williams dialogue. Ugh!)

Richard Farnsworth in Comes a Horseman (for those who discovered him in The Straight Story a few years back, Farnsworth delivered another Oscar nominated performance over 25 years ago in this impossibly slow, too darkly lit Jane Fonda/James Caan western)


Loved Kinski in Cat People and DDL in Age of Innocence (yes, it was a small chore to sit through) but I'm one of the few who's not that hot on ice princess Jennifer Connelly; I feel the only reason why the accolades and awards were bestowed upon her for Mind was the fact that hardly any group rewarded the brave risk and compelling work she did in Requiem for a Dream; that perfromance generated enough heat for the work to be sought out and she obviously bewitched many a male heteorsexual movie critic by the time Mind hit the screens. Their jaws were already opened, eyes already fixated, they saw her as Alicia Nash and went......GAGA!!! (She not bad in Mind, she just does a Donna Reed impression: cry slowly, breathe deeply, look on lovingly, by turns act confused and 'strong'.)

[Perfume V]

That's a fair criticism, I suppose. But she didn't have much more than that to work with. I suppose the test is as follows; whereas I felt most of the movie's deficiencies while I was watching it, I didn't notice what a subservient cypher the character of Alicia Nash was until after I left the cinema.

Other great performances in bad films:

Sean Penn in U-Turn. The movie meandered even more than the title suggested, but Penn was at his most edgy and iconic.

Christopher Walken in The Dead Zone - well, it's more average than bad, but it's not one that'll appear in Cronenberg's obituaries, that's for sure. However, Walken was revelatory in it, far away from his usual tense psycho role.

Tim Roth in Planet of the Apes - about the only person who seemed to have grasped how bad the film was and was therefore left with no option other than to ham it up.

[dave durbin]

And there's also:

Willem Dafoe in Shadow of the Vampire -a pretentious piece of crap but he was fantastic

Gary Sinise & Robin Wright in Forrest Gump -I don't want to start a oh-God-he's-dragging-that-movie-out-of-the-closet-again feeling among readers but I do want to say that they really were very good

Steve Buscemi in Ghost World -it wasn't a bad film but it was tremendously overrated and there was too much focus on Thora Birch (who I like) and Scarlett Johanssen (who I don't); he should have at least received a nomination for his work considering he really did give the best supporting performance that year

Charlize Theron in Celebrity -the film should have been called The Greatest Hits of Woody Allen part III but she was a stand out as the vacuous model who needed echinacea

Al Pacino in The Devil's Advocate - the film was a camp lover's dream but 'ol boy Al really came through with a zestful performance that showed a good sense of humor (Call me Dad!)

[miseenscene]

Shadow of the Vampire was a film i was looking forward to tremendously but which failed me on all levels when I saw it. I wish I'd been warned that it was camp crap, but I also wish someone had told Dafoe, because I think he thought he was making a serious biopic/drama, and everyone else on the set was pretty sure they were making high comedy.

[Perfume V]

I adored Ghost World, but you're right, there wasn't enough focus on Buscemi. I remember when I was at the cinema with a couple of friends watching a packed-out early screening of it, and a cheer went up when he first appeared in the diner. I don't think I've ever seen that happen in a theatre before.

Ah, Daniel Clowes is a genius. Now let's get Alexander Payne or Paul Schrader to work on the 'David Boring' movie, post haste!

[Perfume V]

David Duchovny in Evolution - a performance that would be considered a masterclass in sophisticated deadpan, were it not for the fact that all he's got to work with is a string of arse jokes and plugs for Head & Shoulders.

Alyson Hannigan in American Pie - for a second, during her wonderfully quirky off-the-cuff delivery, you think maybe there's an art to gross-out. Then Jason Biggs opens his mouth and you realise that no, no there isn't.

Hugh Grant in Two Weeks Notice - I freely admit to a bit of bias on this one, as Sandra Bullock annoys me greatly. If she wasn't there doing her typical kooky singleton act, this film would be considered one of the better Hollywood romantic comedies of its era. Maybe it would have worked with Reese Witherspoon, Laura Linney or any actress who can actually pull off the 'serious' moments. Either way, it doesn't detract from Grant's perfectly timed, frequently hilarious turn as an arrogant millionaire playboy. Some might suggest it's the same performance he always gives. It probably is. But hey, doesn't practice make perfect?