Ben Stiller is edgier than his broad comedy roles over the last decade would suggest; it’s just the paycheck is always bigger, the work probably more fun, more exotic and better for his longevity as a movie star with the 16-35 male and female audience to star in the likes of Night at the Museum, The Heartbreak Kid etc.
And besides, once you get pigeon-holed man, the offers for a genuinely well written serious film I’m sure don’t come your way very often. If they did, I think Jim Carrey might have done a few more of them by now.
Nice poster... has Ben Stiller ever made himself so small and less overcoming in one of his leading man pictures?
Stiller’s more subtle and engaging qualities he possessed during the early breakthrough years of his acting career (Reality Bites, Flirting With Disaster) have always been simmering under the surface of his MTV comedy skits, his award ceremony appearances, a couple of times in Tropic Thunder (where he showed he could direct too) and briefly in Meet the Parents, possibly the only broad Stiller I can stomach.
I’ve been waiting for him to Truman Show-it, or to Punch Drunk Love-it, or Dan in Real Life-it ever since the year 2000, and finally next March’s Noel Baumbach very low-key, probably ain’t gonna make a dime, dramedy Greenberg looks to feature his first real performance in way too many years.
Stiller looks to have really hit on something with this movie, playing a likeable loser who has hit his 40’s and still hasn’t figured out what he wants to do with his life. There’s humanity to this Stiller, there’s interest in seeing him act this way, and by God, I’m actually looking forward to seeing one of his movies. It’s the first role, and I’m positive of this, that he hasn’t felt like a movie star on screen, he actually feels like a person. A human.
The appearance of Jennier Jason Leigh helps, surely one of the more fascinating Indie actresses’ in Hollywood. This kind of Rhys Ifans I like, and not the kind from The Boat That Rocked, thank God! And I love the music from LCD Soundsystem. Kick ass!
I’m betting this one will end up at Sundance. It feels right to premiere their, with a release date just two months later. I think it would go down well too.
One Comment
My husband and I saw “Mark Pease” and I thought I was going to be sick. It was one of the worst movies we had ever seen. I can’t see Ben ever making a truly worthy movie. He has type cast himself as playing the fool for far too long. That is a terrible thing. He should have been like Johnny Depp and Robert Downey Jr. and bounced back and forth between things and played everything over the years. Now he wants to do Drama and be considered for an Oscar (I am sure.) It won’t work. People won’t take him seriously. He has played a fool for too long. It is a terrible thing to be type cast but Ben can only blame himself. He needs to stick with what he knows. Maybe he will get an Oscar for a really great comedy.