From Nic Cage to Ron Perlman: Welcome To The Wonderful World Of Overacting

Jim Carey

He just announced he is moving to Portland with his band, The Staggering Douches, and opening a coffee shop.

Most people look at Jim Carey to make us laugh, and when he does that, we are content. But if you take a minute to look past the movies he made us laugh in, you will see a trend. Liar Liar, Yes Man, Ace Ventura, The Mask, and Dumb and Dumber. If you go back through all his movies (yes, all) you will see that immediately below the surface of those very humorous performances were performances made funny by extreme over-acting. In terms of being funny, he hits it out of the park, but look at a scene like this from an ACTING standpoint:

Is it funny? Well, for the most part, but Jesus man. Dial it back a wee bit, huh?

Even in a movie like The Majestic (if that movie tried any harder to be a Jimmy Stewart movie, it would have dug him up and danced him around on strings for the end credits) he even overacts while underacting. You need to read that line through a few times to get it, and that’s ok. In the best example of Carey’s work (Eternal Sunshine) he is wonderfully understated, but is allowed to be himself in some scenes (baby in the sink scene, for one) and THAT is when a perfect balance is achieved. You give him a tiny leash to go over the top, but you reign him in otherwise.

But that is the charm of Carey, and most of the actors on this list. You don’t call these guys if you want an “understated” performance, and I think we all know that, and so do they.

Christopher Walken

He chewed so much scenery in this movie they gave him shark teeth to make it easier.

Now please understand, I LOVE Chris Walken. So much so, I have even written a monologue for him. I think he is weird and wonderful, and his delivery is second-to-none. But we would ALL be lying if we were to pretend that he has not become a walking (walken?) impression of himself. He is at that Marlon Brando level of eclectic fame where directors just film him and let him say what he wants now, which, in some cases, is awesome, and in some cases, not so much. For the most part, though, he is incredibly enjoyable to watch, but definitely no longer tries to deliver subtle. Unlike most of the list, though, Walken is a remarkable actor who just seems to be having a good time doing what he is doing. What that is, though, only he is sure.

Even the trailer for Seven Psychopaths proves Walken has no intention of ever NOT being Walken, though, so bless him for that.

John Malkovich/Jeremy Irons

Jesus, even his picture is overacting.

Come on, you know this tie is justified.  On one hand, you have Jeremy Irons, who, at times, delivers more ham than a deli. As proven by this clip here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZne8XjVajM

Put a good actor in a crappy director’s hands, and anything is possible.

Not shown: The art of subtlety. 

And then you have Malkovich, who is…well, no one knows, really. But he, too, has sort of become a moving impression of himself.

What you are seeing is a great man jumping a vicious shark.

I know both actors are brilliant at times, but at other times, it seems like they are madman, standing on a street corner, yelling about God to anyone driving by with an open window. Classic thespians, without a doubt, but classic thespians who have taken to running around with their volume on eleven, for some odd reason. I know they are less extreme examples, but they have shown they are GOOD actors, which makes the hammy bad-acting stand out even more. Man, if I only got a dollar for every time I typed out some version of the word ham in this article, I would be rich.

Other Scenery-Chewers:

Clint Howard: I know, this seems like s stretch, but I have wanted to put this guy on a list for so long, and it feels like a good fit.

Jack Black: It worked for School of Rock, but that jumpy energy has gotten old by now. Except for Kung-Fu Panda. He was born to play that role.

Willem Dafoe: His role as Green Goblin may be the biggest ham fest ever, in my honest opinion. He just loves to yell and snarl, and it’s all been done to death by now.

Richard Roxburgh: The guy who played Dracula in the Val Helsing movie. Never have I wanted to open-palm-slap Dracula more.

Someone should have taken all the DVD copes of Van Helsing and put them in a landfill somewhere.

Shameless plug: Go check out my site. I need to support my freebasing of movies.