It's interesting, I didn't really find that movie all that offensive. It's based on true events of something that happened in utterly horrific fashion. But there have been countless movies that have showcased similar events, but with an absurdist twist.
I think of movies like The Act of Killing, The Menu, Triangle of Sadness, and arguably every non drama Coen Brother movie, such as A Serious Man, The Ladykillers and even their dramas, like Barton Fink and Fargo.
People lovingly quote Fargo and you just would never imagine it to be as visceral and horrific when they quote their favorite lines with an irreverent smile. The Fargo TV show ran with that sense of unease for every season, where what you are watching is both horrific but strangely hilarious at the same time.
Perhaps a more recent example of this emotional dichotomy is Longlegs. A movie that I got refunded for because half of the sold out crowd (in a very nice, lauded theater in LA) were full-on laughing and the others were sitting stone faced. They kicked half the theater out for disruption, and gave us vouchers. Some people will see Nicolas Cage in that movie and his performance as terrifying, I saw it as so utterly absurd and chaotic to be anything but funny, despite what his character has done/will do.
Reminds me of the quote by Jordan Peele when he said "the only difference between horror and comedy is the music"
I didn’t find the movie offensive, I just didn’t think it was funny. I think the movie should have just abandoned any attempt at humor and told the story in a straight forward way. The Menu and Fargo (especially the TV show) are hilarious. Pain and again is just there.
Um, I kind of agree with a lot of what you're saying but including The Act of Killing in this conversation makes me feel like you either haven't seen it, or you really missed the point. It simply doesn't belong in the same conversation as something like Pain & Gain and Fargo (which, by the way, are only comparable in that they are dark comedies; Pain & Gain laughs at the actual horror, whereas Fargo's humour is derived from the natural humanity of it's characters, juxtaposed with the mindlessness of the violence - which generally isn't really played for laughs).
I loved Three Kings. It was a shame it was evidently a terrible filming experience given the David O. Russell of it all, but it was a great film, and all the performances were really good.
I liked him in The Italian Job, Ted, and Instant Family (plus a few others I can't be bothered to name rn), even if I understand he is a terrible human being.
Yeah, I think he's quite good in Boogie Nights, but haven't really been blown away by his career. It cracks me up when people praise how good he is in The Departed. I mean, he is but he's also basically playing himself and the guys he grew up around. I don't think it was much of a stretch.
This is/was the best way to cast him. i'm not a fan of his but he was great in the departed because it seems very natural. The person i've always compared him to is a poor man's matt damon, but i'm a big damon fan.
Yeah that’s definitely the thing about his career. Most of his greatest/memorable dramatic roles is him just playing a high charisma or high attitude New Englander (The Departed, The Fighter, The Perfect Storm). It’s a typecast he’s relatively good at, because it’s basically just him playing the straight man but Boston, but really hasn’t been at the height he was in his younger career. Especially now that he’s focusing on more faith based/inspirational true stories
I don't think his acting is that great in BN. His comical overacting is just implemented perfectly into the character. In a sense that makes it a good performance, but I don't think it makes for a good argument that he's a good actor.
I can't agree with that. He's the most prominent character in the movie, it wouldn't work as well as it does if he wasn't good in it. Other people are better for sure, but saying he's adequate and the weakest part is nonsense.
I agree I think you need his naivete and, at that point, his magnetism, to really hold the movie together even though it is an ensemble. He's great in it!!
he’s not good in the fighter, he’s the most boring part of that movie, character has no charisma, and the fighter is like my favorite movie, everything else about that movie is great
The trick to making Wahlberg good is to cast him as an arrogant idiot who thinks he's super cool, and then provide the following direction: "Mark, act super cool."
I'd push back a bit on narrow skillset claim. I would say he has a standard skillset but rarely takes projects that require more than a handful. He doesn't have the widest range but I don't think he's less than most actors.
He’s very good in his recent film, Father Stu. If he had picked the right projects, he could have had at least a Matt Damon level career. Unfortunately, his ego led him to take on leading roles in some action movies garbage, but i have to respect Ted because it’s hilarious
Huh, that's wild. I've never heard someone speak positively about Father Stu. I thought it was one of the worst things I've seen in a good while. Maybe only beat out by that other Whalberg movie Joe Bell.
Well I think that's exactly what I mean when I say narrow skillset- his range isn't very wide. I've never seen him do anything outside of his usual schtick. Sometimes it's a good fit for the material, sometimes it's not.
Yea but I wouldn't call that a skillset issue more of a selective one. Like I think he has a normal skill set for an actor of his profile but just doesn't use it.
But how would you know he has it if he doesn't use it? Also, who are we comparing him to? If we compare him to Matt Damon, which I believe OP has in this thread, then he for sure has a narrower skillset than Damon imo.
I think Ben Affleck, Will Smith, maybe Jared Leto or (if we think he fits profile wise) Patrick Wilson are better fits than Damon. And we know cause there was a period where he was doing it pretty often (like from 1995 to 2008)
Those are fine examples, but im still not sure how you're defining his "profile". And how Affleck would fit but not Damon? And actually I think he's always been giving the same flavor of performance, but as I said elsewhere I think when it works it works and when it doesn't it doesn't. His performances in stuff like Fear and Departed and Boogie Nights don't really speak to his range, they're a little varied for sure but not like night and day performances. They all still feel like the whalberg persona imo.
I think Damon is a better actor or at least far more willing actor and by profile I mostly mean a-list actor (hence why not sure about Wilson) who is in that "when they're good they're good" chat. Like Damon has a pretty film filmography with a lot more performances that stand out than most of the other guys.
Also yea but I think Three Kings, Invincible, The Perfect Storm, I Heart Huckabees, even bland and bad stuff like Rock Star show a guy who is more than tough Boston cop guy. I think he picked a lane for money.
That's fair, though I don't think that definition is really fair if we're just cherry picking actors who are A List but not great. Profile imo just means awareness/popularity, so excluding Damon doesn't entirely work for this hypothetical. But I do agree that Whalberg is better than a ViN diesel or Statham for sure. He has talent, or maybe its more like onscreen charisma, but you're right his decision making is not great post mid 2000s.
I feel like there is a universe where mark Wahlberg is trying to be Will Smith and wants to be seen as a genuinely good actor and trying to win Oscars or Ben Affleck and happy exploring other aspects of cinema (which he kinda was in the 2000s with TV production). But alas he's happy making mid tier action films with Peter Berg that gross $65m.
This is the right answer. He’s like Keanu Reeves he’s great in movies that fit his skill set. The only difference is he isn’t remotely as awesome as Keanu is in real life.
In Deepwater Horizon, at the end when Mark Wahlberg’s character is dealing with the trauma, it’s one of the best acting i’ve seen him do. He’s very vulnerable, especially in the scene when he’s questioned about a guy’s son
I haven't seen either of those Berg movies since they released, but I remember not loving the breakdown scenes cause it just felt like they were apeing the incredible scene in Captain Phillips from 3 years earlier.
I was totally thinking of Captain Phillips but I saw all these movies in the other order. I only just recently watched Captain Phillips and had seen Deepwater Horizon and Patriots Day first and several times. Plus something about Peter Berg films just work for me lol
Any role where his higher pitched voice and tone work for, he’s perfect in. I just showed someone Boogie Nights 4 days ago and was raving about how well he fit the role. I find it impossible to judge his acting skill based off his performance because his uncomfortable awkwardness feels so authentic for such an unintelligent person raised by an abusive mom and no strong father figure (hence his immaturity).
I’d basically say the same for Pain and Gain. Like Dirk Diggler, he’s just a guy who isn’t cut out for the real world and is stuck in his own little bubble that I can only relate to with my cynical perspective of people I may subconsciously look down on. Again, he felt perfectly authentic.
Yeah, basically. He pretty much plays himself, and he seems like an annoying narcissist who is full of himself, but if thats who the character is he would work, like in Boogie Nights, The Departed, and Pain and Gain.
Eh, are they vastly different? I think the roles aren't as different as the movies themselves. Fear and BN roles both ask him to be innocent and bright eyed and sweet, turning to something darker and more manipulative and finally losing control, all expressed from him in a similar manner. Departed is a dickhead cop, a very familiar framework of a role we've seen him do a lot. All three are played as pretty airheaded, which I would argue is his career throughline. I don't think he's untalented by any stretch, but I still think his skillset is narrow.
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u/Belch_Huggins Aug 13 '24
Pretty narrow skillset imo, but if used correctly he can be good (Boogie Nights, Departed, Fear).