Ask Lemmy

Paul Dano was perfect in Swiss Army Man, that sense of "out of place" actually worked incredibly well for that film.

Will Ferrell, Steve Carrel and Ben Stiller are the 3 horsemen of the comedy apocalypse

I agree with this comment in general, but don't think Ferrell is a good example. Or really, maybe he is a good example, but the way his movies are shot isn't a good example.

In Ferrell movies, the gag is that the actor says or does something outrageously dumb, and then the other actors largely go along with it, either pumping up the idea, or being coerced by it, or stomping it down in a hilariously insulting fashion. If there is ever a moment of awkward silence, it lingers for a second before the scene ends. Arrested Development is another example of this being done well. It's a farce - the actions are so bizarre and outlandish that we can't possibly imagine ourselves doing it, so we are absolved of sympathy for the cartoonish actor and enjoy seeing them fumble their way through the scene.

But there is a new wave of "cringe comedy" that seems to not understand what a farce is. A character will do something just beyond the limit of what we could imagine ourselves doing, so we can still identify with the character. Then the other characters react in the way people would react in real life - with stern condemnation or cold shouldering. And the scene goes on and on and on. It is terrible.

From the interviews that I've seen and the accounts of people who've encountered him it seems that he's a pretty genuine guy. He knows he's not making high art and isn't pretending otherwise.

Story time?

He plays one character, but the character is kind of likable and funny. To me he's the definition of a popcorn flick actor.

I feel the opposite. I want to hate him so badly, but he's a good actor. Like I was absolutely furious about his casting in Interview with a Vampire, then he killed it, was gaunt and vampire as hell. He is not good looking to me and seems a shit person, but my goodness he can act.

He's the only actor I can think of I actively boycott other than Gal Godot. Aside from his violent racism and American nationalism which is all well documented, I just absolutely loathe the type of character he likes to play; the macho snarky asshole who feels like he got kicked out of basic training and makes being a veteran his whole personality.

There's few archetypes I hate more than the "former soldier who could kill a man, harbouring some deep unnerving instinct", or the "American in a truck who loves the flag and is just a hard working guy", and somehow he always plays and glamorises both, despite not actually being either.

He turned his back on his bandmate after said bandmate made a joke about wishing Trump got assassinated, and he condemned palestine for standing up to their oppressors. He's a shitlib at best

Every time I see his bad acting, Im just like ”why is this dude so popular and why is he landing these big roles?”

He went downhill after parks and rec