The Official Review Thread of 2010
Phillip Morris was frentic and all over the place in tone (thanks to the manic Carrey) while The Informant was like watching paint dry on a wall. I don't see how they were both similar in tone and style.Big Magilla wrote:I thought he was easily outclassed by Ewan McGregor in Phillip Morris. The film is similar in style and tone to last year's Matt Damon film, The Informant!. The only difference is that Carrey's character is gay. Both are based on "true" stories.
Ewan McGregor is better in a very sweet role that's perhaps more easily defined, but, if not quite perfect, Jim Carrey runs a wild, comedic gamut of emotions in the film. I still say his work in Eternal Sunshine... hits an unexpected high point in restraint. It might not be great, but it's a very, very good performance.
Edited By Sabin on 1293001957
Edited By Sabin on 1293001957
"How's the despair?"
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Big Magilla
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I wouldn't call any of Carrey's performances "great", but his supporting role in Doing Time of Maple Drive is as close as he gets. He was good in The Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine, but not great. I don't think, however, that another actor could have done any better. Neither film is the masterpiece people seem to think they are.
I thought he was easily outclassed by Ewan McGregor in Phillip Morris. The film is similar in style and tone to last year's Matt Damon film, The Informant!. The only difference is that Carrey's character is gay. Both are based on "true" stories.
I thought he was easily outclassed by Ewan McGregor in Phillip Morris. The film is similar in style and tone to last year's Matt Damon film, The Informant!. The only difference is that Carrey's character is gay. Both are based on "true" stories.
That's an opinion I haven't heard uttered before you, so I don't know how universally accepted it actually is.flipp525 wrote:Yes, it is. It's also one that's pretty much universally accepted.Bog wrote:Fact: This is 100% your opinionflipp525 wrote:Fact: Jim Carrey has only given one truly great dramatic performance and that was in the TV movie "Doing Time on Maple Drive" (1992).
Doing Time on Maple Drive was a decent TV movie, and Carrey was decent in it, but "truly great" isn't a phrase I've ever heard in association with that performance. There was much acclaim for The Truman Show, Man on the Moon and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Some critics praised his work in The Majestic. Other than that, there were his successful comedic roles in The Mask and Liar, Liar. Doing Time on Maple Drive is best seen as an early attempt by Carrey to move into more dramatic fare after being known for doing comedy sketches on In Living Color.flipp525 wrote:Yes, it is. It's also one that's pretty much universally accepted.Bog wrote:Fact: This is 100% your opinionflipp525 wrote:Fact: Jim Carrey has only given one truly great dramatic performance and that was in the TV movie "Doing Time on Maple Drive" (1992).
"Because here’s the thing about life: There’s no accounting for what fate will deal you. Some days when you need a hand. There are other days when we’re called to lend a hand." -- President Joe Biden, 01/20/2021
Bog wrote:flipp525 wrote:Fact: Jim Carrey has only given one truly great dramatic performance and that was in the TV movie "Doing Time on Maple Drive" (1992).
Fact: This is 100% your opinion
Yes, it is. It's also one that's pretty much universally accepted.
Edited By flipp525 on 1292983335
"The mantle of spinsterhood was definitely in her shoulders. She was twenty five and looked it."
-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Fact: Jim Carrey has only given one truly great dramatic performance and that was in the TV movie "Doing Time on Maple Drive" (1992).
Edited By flipp525 on 1292983153
Edited By flipp525 on 1292983153
"The mantle of spinsterhood was definitely in her shoulders. She was twenty five and looked it."
-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
And yet Serious Carrey was derided for not being serious enough in The Truman Show, for being too goofy. Before he was an Unforgivable Oscar Snub, he was Good, in a Jim Carrey Sort of Way.
Like I said, this is an inconsistent performance that within the context of the film works very well.
Like I said, this is an inconsistent performance that within the context of the film works very well.
"How's the despair?"
Carrey in motion? The Mask. Serious Carrey? The Truman Show. Enjoyed both. Now he just repeats himself.Sabin wrote:Hmm. I did a lot of editing in my post and I lost something...
I grew up with Jim Carrey so he probably means more to me than a lot of people on this board. As a serious actor, he's really only excelled in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and if to some that wasn't enough I can see how it'd be easy to just write him off. There's a puppy-ish need to for approval in Jim Carrey's persona that divorces itself from genuine restrained sentiment in a way that he's never entirely been able to overcome. He can't trust himself to not be doing something and just be. In I Love You Phillip Morris, he gives SOME of his best acting ever. He botches a few scenes that requires tears and a few others that enable schtick. He is strongest when the film adopts a manic tone. I think largely why this is a successful performance is, looking back, there may never have been a Jim Carrey film (and, I suppose, detractors will ultimately accuse this amazing true story of trying to be a Jim Carrey movie) that tonally is more aligned to his speed. And because of this, and because much of his performance is very interesting (at times desperate, weird, hopeful, and always in motion), I'm willing to forgive the intermittent lack of consistency.
What I'm trying to say is, the performance may not be anything altogether new, but the utilization is a match made in etc.
Hmm. I did a lot of editing in my post and I lost something...
I grew up with Jim Carrey so he probably means more to me than a lot of people on this board. As a serious actor, he's really only excelled in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and if to some that wasn't enough I can see how it'd be easy to just write him off. There's a puppy-ish need to for approval in Jim Carrey's persona that divorces itself from genuine restrained sentiment in a way that he's never entirely been able to overcome. He can't trust himself to not be doing something and just be. In I Love You Phillip Morris, he gives SOME of his best acting ever. He botches a few scenes that requires tears and a few others that enable schtick. He is strongest when the film adopts a manic tone. I think largely why this is a successful performance is, looking back, there may never have been a Jim Carrey film (and, I suppose, detractors will ultimately accuse this amazing true story of trying to be a Jim Carrey movie) that tonally is more aligned to his speed. And because of this, and because much of his performance is very interesting (at times desperate, weird, hopeful, and always in motion), I'm willing to forgive the intermittent lack of consistency.
What I'm trying to say is, the performance may not be anything altogether new, but the utilization is a match made in etc.
I grew up with Jim Carrey so he probably means more to me than a lot of people on this board. As a serious actor, he's really only excelled in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and if to some that wasn't enough I can see how it'd be easy to just write him off. There's a puppy-ish need to for approval in Jim Carrey's persona that divorces itself from genuine restrained sentiment in a way that he's never entirely been able to overcome. He can't trust himself to not be doing something and just be. In I Love You Phillip Morris, he gives SOME of his best acting ever. He botches a few scenes that requires tears and a few others that enable schtick. He is strongest when the film adopts a manic tone. I think largely why this is a successful performance is, looking back, there may never have been a Jim Carrey film (and, I suppose, detractors will ultimately accuse this amazing true story of trying to be a Jim Carrey movie) that tonally is more aligned to his speed. And because of this, and because much of his performance is very interesting (at times desperate, weird, hopeful, and always in motion), I'm willing to forgive the intermittent lack of consistency.
What I'm trying to say is, the performance may not be anything altogether new, but the utilization is a match made in etc.
"How's the despair?"
I, on the other hand, thought Carrey did his usual shtick only this time playing a gay character. Found nothing new in his performance.Sabin wrote:I Love You Phillip Morris (Glenn Ficarra & John Requa)
There are two major caveats attached to I Love You Phillip Morris but what needs to be understood is that this is such an exuberant work by a co-writing/co-directing team of comedic stylists that warrant it as some kind of must-see. It also has one of the most unexpected narratives of the year, playing a game of bait and switch that I often didn't see coming. I loved it.
The first caveat involves it as a work of Gayface, and charges that it is an infantile one. I Love You Phillip Morris is adolescent, not just in its humor but in its notion of love. My biggest complaint with Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (the other great American movie of 2010) is that it spends so little time relishing the love between Scott and Ramona, that they seemed vaguely asexual together. Steven and Phillip are complicatedly transcendent soul mates, and this film utterly believes that. Dismiss it as stereotyping, reductive, idiotic...when I can watch a movie and buy one person screaming at the top of their lungs their love for another, it's saying something. And I do...mostly.
That brings me to my second caveat. Jim Carrey gives one of his best performances ever in this film. It's a role that probably breathes more into him than the other way around. He's a pathological repressive in the body of a fake. He's found an excellent match in Ficarra/Requa. They've created a playground for him to lie, cheat, steal, and fall in love, and sometimes this brings out some of his more stale tendencies. Ultimately though his performance is a fine match for the tone of this film.
I Love You Phillip Morris (Glenn Ficarra & John Requa)
There are two major caveats attached to I Love You Phillip Morris but what needs to be understood is that this is such an exuberant work by a co-writing/co-directing team of comedic stylists that warrant it as some kind of must-see. It also has one of the most unexpected narratives of the year, playing a game of bait and switch that I often didn't see coming. I loved it.
The first caveat involves it as a work of Gayface, and charges that it is an infantile one. I Love You Phillip Morris is adolescent, not just in its humor but in its notion of love. My biggest complaint with Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (the other great American movie of 2010) is that it spends so little time relishing the love between Scott and Ramona, that they seemed vaguely asexual together. Steven and Phillip are complicatedly transcendent soul mates, and this film utterly believes that. Dismiss it as stereotyping, reductive, idiotic...when I can watch a movie and buy one person screaming at the top of their lungs their love for another, it's saying something. And I do...mostly.
That brings me to my second caveat. Jim Carrey gives one of his best performances ever in this film. It's a role that probably breathes more into him than the other way around. He's a pathological repressive in the body of a fake. He's found an excellent match in Ficarra/Requa. They've created a playground for him to lie, cheat, steal, and fall in love, and sometimes this brings out some of his more stale tendencies. Ultimately though his performance is a fine match for the tone of this film.
There are two major caveats attached to I Love You Phillip Morris but what needs to be understood is that this is such an exuberant work by a co-writing/co-directing team of comedic stylists that warrant it as some kind of must-see. It also has one of the most unexpected narratives of the year, playing a game of bait and switch that I often didn't see coming. I loved it.
The first caveat involves it as a work of Gayface, and charges that it is an infantile one. I Love You Phillip Morris is adolescent, not just in its humor but in its notion of love. My biggest complaint with Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (the other great American movie of 2010) is that it spends so little time relishing the love between Scott and Ramona, that they seemed vaguely asexual together. Steven and Phillip are complicatedly transcendent soul mates, and this film utterly believes that. Dismiss it as stereotyping, reductive, idiotic...when I can watch a movie and buy one person screaming at the top of their lungs their love for another, it's saying something. And I do...mostly.
That brings me to my second caveat. Jim Carrey gives one of his best performances ever in this film. It's a role that probably breathes more into him than the other way around. He's a pathological repressive in the body of a fake. He's found an excellent match in Ficarra/Requa. They've created a playground for him to lie, cheat, steal, and fall in love, and sometimes this brings out some of his more stale tendencies. Ultimately though his performance is a fine match for the tone of this film.
"How's the despair?"
Big Magilla wrote:I think Wahlberg deserves more credit than he's been getting for his understated performance. Bale and Adams are terrific. Leo's performance is technically good, but her character is one-note. I don't understand why she is getting almost as many awards as Bale is for this.
I have to agree with this (the part about Wahlberg). In a family of such strong personalities, it made sense that Micky Ward would be sort of the background player in the drama that he's technically "starring" in. Wahlberg's choices, in that regard, made complete sense to me.
I loved Adams' against-type turn as the loyal girlfriend, but Melissa Leo blew me away. I thought she so completely submerged herself in the character of Alice, it was difficult to find any of the actress' former roles in her work here. Every purse of the lips and frantic move was organic. The phone scene that BJ referenced in his review was a particular knock-out moment. She transcended the one-note pitfalls of this character in spades.
And Christian Bale should just start writing his acceptance speech now. What an electrifying, scene-stealing performance. One of his best (if not THE best) performances of his career.
Edited By flipp525 on 1292803689
"The mantle of spinsterhood was definitely in her shoulders. She was twenty five and looked it."
-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell