Pan Tau wrote:

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I have very mixed feelings about Steven Carell, another one who thinks that manic is hilarious. To his credit, he has mostly suppressed the urge to do that shtick. And I thought he was excellent as the depressed guy in Little Miss Sunshine.

Huh? Have you seen The 40-Year Old Virgin or the American version of The Office? Hardly "manic." And he has the somewhat deadpan Get Smart coming out.

Yeah, that's why I said he has successfully suppressed these urges to do manic shtick. But by instinct he is he sort of comedian who thinks that pulling crazy faces, moving manically and free associating is funny. It is something he does in interviews more than in movies.

Jim Carrey was very funny in Dumb And Dumber, but to my mind never since. And I can't take him seriously in a straight role.

I think that Carrey succeeds in those 'serious' roles that touch, ever-so-slightly, upon the lighter, quirkier (for want of a better word) aspect of his persona. The biggest example is The Truman Show, where he treads the fine line between the sympathetic and the comic beautifully.

The other end of the spectrum is the godawful The Number 23, where attempts to turn him into a tortured soul beset by demons (not to mention an imagination-based version of him as this grizzled, cool-as-fuck detective) are embarrassing.

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Yeah, that's why I said he has successfully suppressed these urges to do manic shtick.

Not much to worry about then, surely, if he has these instincts but they don't manifest themselves in, er, any of his best-known performances.

The Horse wrote:

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Adam Sandler was astoundingly good in Punch-Drunk Love.

This is the wrongest post ever written. How I hate that film.

Oh.

Sorry. I just have a pavlovian thing going on with that film. Sorry.

I thought Jim Carrey was hilarious in Fun With Dick and Jane.

I laughed so hard that a little bit of poo came out of my arse.

Yes, I think Anthony Lane said something similar in his 'New Yorker' review.

Pan Tau wrote:

QUOTE:
Yeah, that's why I said he has successfully suppressed these urges to do manic shtick. But by instinct he is he sort of comedian who thinks that pulling crazy faces, moving manically and free associating is funny. It is something he does in interviews more than in movies.

I have so say, I don't see it. He was never like that on the Daily Show. I guess I haven't watched any of his promo interviews.

I laughed so hard that a little bit of poo came out of my arse.

I'd like them to put that on a poster. Wonder what it'd be like for mainstream erotic thrillers: "Sensual, arousing and intense enough for me to moisten myself in an unseemly way - Chris Tookey, Mail On Sunday".

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Not much to worry about then, surely, if he has these instincts but they don't manifest themselves in, er, any of his best-known performances.

But if the manic shtick is under the surface, as I believe it to be, a concern that it might find expression as the actor becomes more autonomous is not entirely unreasonable, no?

Seems a bit odd, to be honest. It's hardly a schtick if he never actually does it while acting.

I mean, you know, I'm concerned more about things that have happened.

I must say in the interviews I've seen, which is only two admittedly, Carell hasn't been as you describe.

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Al Pacino. Almost invariably a parody of himself since Scarface.

Scent of a Woman
Heat
Sea of Love
Glengarry Gleross
The Insider
Any Given Sunday
Insomnia
Merchant of Venice
You know, to name but 8 off the top of my head that show that to be completely wrong.

Scent Of A Woman is my Exhibit A, usually. Hoo Hah indeed.

The Horse: okay, whatever.

Owen Wilson's schtick is getting a bit tiresome. Maybe following his... um, personal problems he'll get a new one.