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landmark Inner circle within a triangle 5194 Posts |
How come there are so many brilliant stand-ups who suck in the movies? Most boring movie actors ever:
Steve Martin Robin Williams Whoopi Goldberg
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Dannydoyle Eternal Order 21219 Posts |
Father of the Bride was great with Steve Martin. So was LA Stories. I never saw Cheaper by the Dozen, but it was suposed to be ok.
Williams was great in Dead Poets Society. Whoopie did a fair job in Rat Race. People liked Sister Act enough to make a sequal. Point is all actors make some pretty bad movies from time to time. It is easy to cherry pick the bad ones, and yea they do seem to have some that are not all time greats. But your premise is sort of flawed to say the least. (And I never thought Whoopie was a brilliant stand up anyhow. Williams is a legendary thief from other comics.)
Danny Doyle
<BR>Semper Occultus <BR>In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act....George Orwell |
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Woland Special user 680 Posts |
Well it's a totally different kind of work, so it's not surprising that sometimes standups make lousy comic actors. But what about Bob Hope? Eddie Murphy? Richard Pryor? Jerry Lewis?
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kcg5 Inner circle who wants four fried chickens and a coke 1868 Posts |
Ummmm, "the jerk"
Nobody expects the spanish inquisition!!!!!
"History will be kind to me, as I intend to write it"- Sir Winston Churchill |
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noble1 Special user 651 Posts |
Martin - Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Bowfinger, Spanish Prisnor / Williams - Good Morning Vietnam, World According to Garp
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landmark Inner circle within a triangle 5194 Posts |
Father of the Bride is exactly what I'm talking about--middle of the road nothin'. You could put any generic Disney B movie actor in there. The Jerk--ok, but then he retreated to situation comedy. Same with any Robin Williams performance, lousy phony middle of the road acting. I concede that they are audience pleasers though.
Whoopi, who I find unbearable for the most part in anything, I thought was pretty good in her early stand-up career. Pryor was okay in movies, but a candle, comparatively, to the sun of his stand-up work. Hope's movies I think were better than his stand-up. Was Jerry Lewis ever a single on stage? I don't know. Eddie Murphy I think was a genius but I disliked him intensely. He had the chops but not the heart. His mean-spiritedness came through in everything he did, and I didn't enjoy watching his stand-up or his movies. Of the newer guys, Steve Carrell is funny, Adam Sandler tedious, and Ben Stiller probably a better writer than performer. Mike Myers had some bombs, but I like most of his movie work.
Click here to get Gerald Deutsch's Perverse Magic: The First Sixteen Years
All proceeds to Open Heart Magic charity. |
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mastermindreader 1949 - 2017 Seattle, WA 12586 Posts |
Not to forget Whoopi's memorable role in "Ghost." (And don't forget "The Color Purple". I don't agree with landmark at all that Steve Martin, Robin Williams and Whoopi Goldberg "suck" and are "boring" as movie actors. They've all received considerable critical acclaim.
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Al Angello Eternal Order Collegeville, Pa. USA 11045 Posts |
Abbott and Costello.
The three stooges used to do a night club act too.
Al Angello The Comic Juggler/Magician
http://www.juggleral.com http://home.comcast.net/~juggleral/ "Footprints on your ceiling are almost gone" |
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Woland Special user 680 Posts |
Does it matter that Jerry Lewis worked his stage act with Dino? What about Burns & Allen? And how could we forget that paragon juggler, comic, actor, and playwright, W.C. Fields?
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motown Inner circle Atlanta by way of Detroit 6127 Posts |
I thought Robin Williams was very good in both Dead Poets Society and Good Will Hunting.
"If you ever write anything about me after I'm gone, I will come back and haunt you."
– Karl Germain |
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Dannydoyle Eternal Order 21219 Posts |
Yea that is my point. Not bad actors at all, maybe not the best pics to make the point with.
Danny Doyle
<BR>Semper Occultus <BR>In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act....George Orwell |
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balducci Loyal user Canada 227 Posts |
I also think Steve Martin is a fine actor. Never seen the Father of the Bride series of movies, but I've enjoyed several others of his. Like The Spanish Prisoner, and Planes, Trains & Automobiles.
Make America Great Again! - Trump in 2020 ... "We're a capitalistic society. I go into business, I don't make it, I go bankrupt. They're not going to bail me out. I've been on welfare and food stamps. Did anyone help me? No." - Craig T. Nelson, actor.
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mastermindreader 1949 - 2017 Seattle, WA 12586 Posts |
For the record:
Whoopi Goldberg received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won her first Golden Globe Award for her role in "The Color Purple" (1985). In 1990 her performance in "Ghost" won her a second Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Robin Williams won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the 1997 film Good Will Hunting. He has also won four Golden Globes and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. In 2009, commenting on his lengthy film career, The Guardian listed Steve Martin as one of the best actors never to receive an Oscar nomination. |
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kcg5 Inner circle who wants four fried chickens and a coke 1868 Posts |
Landmark, who DO you like?
Nobody expects the spanish inquisition!!!!!
"History will be kind to me, as I intend to write it"- Sir Winston Churchill |
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Michael Baker Eternal Order Near a river in the Midwest 11172 Posts |
Very often, stand up comedians are stuck with comedy roles.
Sinbad Blake Clark Chris Rock Rosie O'Donnell Tim Allen Even those comedians that weren't exactly stand up, but part of ensembles like SNL or SCTV are often only seen within their expected element. In this regard, comedy movies are usually funny or they aren't, and most often this is the fault of any number of people other than the stand-up turned actor. To be in a movie generally means losing full control of your act. That very well may be the difference, and why it is noticable.
~michael baker
The Magic Company |
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gdw Inner circle 4884 Posts |
Robin Williams is often great in the smaller, less recognized films he does as well. The films themselves aren't always great, but Williams' acting often is. One Hour Photo for example. Though I liked the premise, I don't remember it being the most well executed.
Insomnia on the other hand, good film as well as good acting. I'm actually curious how many comedic actors had successful movie careers without doing stand up.
"You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one."
I won't forget you Robert. |
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Dannydoyle Eternal Order 21219 Posts |
Insomnia put me to sleep ironic as it sounds.
One hour photo just never really developed right, the irony abounds. I sort of liked the world according to Garp. Yea I ask also landmark, who exactly do you like? Academy award is not high enoug calibur for you? Sinbad was ok in Jingle All the Way. Rosie was ok in Flintstones. Also Stakeout with Richard Dryphes and Emelio (My dad wishes I kept the name Sheen instead of my brother.) Estavez was allright. Tim Allen was good in The Santa Clause, and Jungle to Jungle, as well as that movie where he was the dad and had to fight the guy after work. Not to mention Toy Story. Blake Clark, well you have a point.
Danny Doyle
<BR>Semper Occultus <BR>In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act....George Orwell |
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landmark Inner circle within a triangle 5194 Posts |
I like the comedians who didn't become tame in the movies: The Marx Brothers, Keaton, Chaplin of course, but the Monty Python gang, early Woody Allen, Leslie Nielsen, Mike Myers, Rowan Atkinson, The SCTV folks. As I said before, I think Carrell is good, but the whole Apatow thing is too situationally boring to me.
You know who I think was very underrated as a comic actor, and no one's going to agree with me on this, is Ellen DeGeneres. Not her movies, but on her first TV series (the one she eventually came out in) she had incredible comic timing, and Lucille Ball's influence on her was very visible.
Click here to get Gerald Deutsch's Perverse Magic: The First Sixteen Years
All proceeds to Open Heart Magic charity. |
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foolsnobody Special user Buffalo, NY 843 Posts |
I thought Bobcat Goldthwait was great in "Shakes the Clown."
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Dannydoyle Eternal Order 21219 Posts |
Ellen was fine. That show suffered because it was called "These Friends of Mine" I think and got confused with Friends. If she chose to act more I bet she would be quite good at it.
To say that any of those you mentioned are failed because of some bad movies is the equivilant of saying that Harrison Ford is a bad box office bet because of Hollywood Homicide. Have you ever done stand up? Seriously. I ask because the way it is done is 180 degrees different from movies in which you have a director who is in charge of your part in general. Also, in stand up you are trying to appeal to a much more narrow scope of people than with major movies. Major movies have a much larger target market. This is often why people refer to the transition you are frustrated by as 'sell outs'. This was not as true in the days of Chaplin era. Can you name things the Python gang has done that were less than admirable? You can find bad performance in any body of work, otherwise they are not on the cutting edge. This is why I ask if you have ever tried the art. I mean most of the people you talk about from Second City and SNL are used to being ensamble players. Much more akin to making movies than is stand up. It is a different animal and if you have never done either it may be tough to spot.
Danny Doyle
<BR>Semper Occultus <BR>In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act....George Orwell |
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