Zeus wrote:
Like Keanu Reeves and Bruce Willis, he's a very one-dimensional actor who's the same in every flick. He's got a good agent and generally picks good flicks, although he's got a bunch of dogs to his resume, like the others have. Not once has DiFaggio actually delivered a performance that stands out or makes a movie, he just does a good enough job to get by and relies on his supporting cast.
Hmm, I somewhat agree with this. I agree that he is definitely overrated. However, I disagree in that I think he's still talented. Let's run through a few of the films Black Lotus mentions:
His best individual perfomance IMO is as Howard Hughes in "The Aviator". Good movie, very good performance.
In both "Gangs of New York" and "The Departed", other actors probably deserve at least equal credit in making those movies what they were. (Actually in GONY, Daniel Day Lewis was far and away the best guy on screen.) Haven't seen Basketball Diaries or What's Eating Gilbert Grape. However, I can believe that he does well in those sight unseen. He was good in Titanic too, but I wouldn't say he "made" the movie.
That said, i think it bears repeating that I think the guy *is* a good actor. Granted I'm not going to see any movies just because he's in it, but he's the real deal.
Zeus wrote:Occasionally he looks severly out of place (Quick and the Dead) which just lends credence to the fact that he's not a good actor. He can't save a bad role with a good performance like real good actors can (ie. Nicholson, Depp, Oldman, etc.).
I agree with that. But it's a tad unfair to be comparing him to the Nicholsons, eh? You can't be comparing actors in their 20s to Jack!
Zeus wrote:
Not that it's a bad thing to make good money with little talent and he has been in a lot of movies I like a lot (ie. Romeo and Juliet and Titanic). But he's not a good actor.
I think your opinion is a negative backlash against all the ridiculous publicity he gets. You can't honestly believe he really and truly sucks, can you? Well, I guess you can, but you have to come up with a reason better than "he's not as good as Jack Nicholson". What other actor under 30 do you think is better than him?