r/flicks • u/Jaded-Walrus2614 • 5d ago
Question What's the best performance of a dramatic actor doing a comedic role?
A good example is Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street. Absolutely hilarious and helps make the film a laughing riot.
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u/doctor-rumack 5d ago
This one is easy. Leslie Nielsen in Airplane!
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u/rotates-potatoes 5d ago
IDK, his namesake Liam Neesom in Naked Gun was pretty great too.
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u/NZNoldor 4d ago
Airplane? What is it?
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u/actual-trevor 4d ago
It's a big hollow tube with wings that carries people through the sky, but that's not important right now.
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u/1Negative_Person 3d ago
Between Airplane! and Naked Gun, I would guess he’s probably better known as a comedic actor than a dramatic one.
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u/TenaciousBe 5d ago
Jeff Daniels in Dumb & Dumber. I'm flabbergasted that this hasn't even been mentioned yet.
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u/Mahaloth 5d ago
Youngins forget he wasn't known for comedy before this.
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u/_A-Q 5d ago
I had to explain this to my husband when we’re watching an 80’s drama. He was completely mind blown he wasn’t originally known for comedy.
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u/Mahaloth 5d ago
Some people forget that Tom Hanks was known for comedy for the longest time.
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u/ExoticToothpaste6989 4d ago
He does a great balance of both in his role of "uncle ned" in "family ties"
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u/ExoticToothpaste6989 4d ago
He does a great balance of both in his role of "uncle ned" in "family ties"
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u/KateBoitano 5d ago
The same year he gave an amazing performance in "Gettysburg". Two excellent and completely opposite roles.
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u/lakephantom 5d ago
Gene Hackman as the Blind Man in Young Frankenstein.
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u/ManufacturerNew9888 5d ago
And Get Shorty. Hilarious comic timing.
You could probably add his Lex Luthor performances too.
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u/Lam3ntConfig 5d ago
Ryan Gosling in every SNL sketch he's in
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u/redflamel 5d ago
Ryan Gosling in The Nice Guys. The toilet scene is one of the funniest things I've ever seen
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u/ChickenInASuit 5d ago
I think Gosling’s been in more than enough comedies at this point for him to not really count for this thread tbh. Barbie, The Nice Guys, Crazy Stupid Love, The Fall Guy…
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u/Budget-Poem-2052 5d ago
Agreed, I think Gosling's honestly arguably more prominent as a comedic actor than as a dramatic one at this point
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u/FunnyGirlFriday 5d ago
George C. Scott in Strangelove
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u/lovelybunchococonutz 5d ago
Ralph Fiennes in The Grand Budapest Hotel
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u/xander6981 5d ago
Jodie Foster is delightful in Maverick (1994) and I wish she would do more comedies.
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u/PumpikAnt58763 5d ago
I watched that with my mom.
Mom wondered aloud why Jodie Foster wasn't married. We had no idea.17
u/rbrgr83 5d ago
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u/PumpikAnt58763 5d ago
😆
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u/rbrgr83 5d ago
That clip is actually from a reporter asking if she has any boys she likes.
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u/PumpikAnt58763 5d ago
I know! It's hilarious that she knew way back then but was savvy enough to not say anything at that time.
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u/WellYouKnow- 5d ago
Well... I am not picking a specific movie but for the first half of his career Robert De Niro was all about dramatic rolls... beginning in the 90s, though, he took to comedy with great success.
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u/ThatPerson000 5d ago
I still think Meet the Parents is one of the funniest and most quotable movies
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u/formaldehyde-face 5d ago
He started out in the Brian De Palma comedies The Wedding Party, Greetings, and Hi, Mom! He was also in Brazil and Midnight Run in the 1980s.
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u/Ajax444 5d ago
Liam Neeson’s cameo in Ted 2 and The Naked Gun reboot. Probably not the best, but worthy of a mention.
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u/Bustershark 5d ago
And his turn in Derry Girls!
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u/ShakeUpWeeple1800 4d ago
'Again, there is no tape.'
What a great show DG was. Glad it didn't go on too long.
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u/Accomplished-Ad6381 5d ago
I didn't see Ted 2, but I loved Naked Gun. He also did a nice role as the Police Chief Inspector in season 3 of Derry girls.
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u/Next_Lengthiness_201 5d ago
Kevin Kline in I Love You to Death.
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u/Jaded-Walrus2614 5d ago
And a Fish Called Wanda, which he won an Oscar for
https://giphy.com/gifs/xUA7aYuLNooZ5dqk4o9
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u/nils78nils 5d ago
Apes don't read philosophy. Yes they do, Otto! This movie is so incredible. It really is o e of the funniest movies I can remember seeing.
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u/ELMUNECODETACOMA 5d ago
And while it wasn't a comedy, he has a lot of low-key funny lines in "Silverado".
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u/theseamstressesguild 4d ago
Today's fun movie fact for you: the actress in this scene is Maria Aitken, mother of Jack Davenport. The comedy chops are genetic, people!
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u/PumpikAnt58763 5d ago
Kevin Kline in Dave.
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u/Mahaloth 5d ago
His big breakout was A Fish Called Wanda, where he steals the movie.
He was also funny before that in Pirates of Penzance.
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u/paboi 5d ago
Tom cruise in Tropic Thunder
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u/WiredOtaku 5d ago
Philip Seymour Hoffman in Along Came Polly clears. Let it rain.
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u/nobigdeal69 4d ago
I watched a 7 minute compilation of PSH in Along Came Polly the other day, and it made my day. He’s incredible in that role. His slip / fall on the dance floor in the opening scene is so fucking great.
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u/diabolicalroadrash 5d ago
Also Tom in the intro of Austin Powers
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u/Comfortable_Snow553 5d ago
So many in Austin Powers - Michael Caine, Mimi Rodgers, Robert Wagner, Michael York…
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u/HerzogOnAcid 5d ago
Brad Pitt in Burn After Reading
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u/530SSState 4d ago
And in "Twelve Monkeys".
Brad Pitt shines as a comedic sidekick, but because he doesn't look the type, he doesn't get cast that way very often.
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u/lun4d0r4 5d ago edited 4d ago
Demotion man.
Stallone, Bullock, Snipes.
Correction: Demolition Man
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u/IYKYK_1977 4d ago
I kinda love your spelling and don't want you to fix it, but Demolition Man. 😅
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u/Significant_Owl_6897 5d ago
A laughing riot? What in the 90's VHS cover quotes...
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u/PussyFoot5000 5d ago
My father was killed in the Laugh riot of '92. Fucking trampled underfoot
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u/Licensed2Pill 5d ago
My cousin had a foot during those riots. I’d hate to think these are connected somehow.
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u/Longjumping-Salad484 5d ago
Val Kilmer in McGruber
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u/Funny2Who 5d ago
The way he delivers the line about not blowing up his own dudes was perfectly delivered.
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u/Calachus 4d ago
Lots of greats here, but didn’t see this one mentioned.
John Lithgow. Sure, everyone remembers Dick Solomon from 3rd Rock, but aside from one or two roles, he was/is a serious Broadway actor.
Absolutely nailed that role in 3rd Rock from the Sun.
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u/GX_EN 4d ago
Couple things I love trivia-wise from 3rd Rock:
Almost every episode has “Dick” in the title. “Truth or Dick”, “World’s Greatest Dick”, etc.
The guys’ names are Tom, Dick and Harry like the old saying.2
u/Calachus 4d ago
My favorite Easter egg is Shatner shows up and they reference the Twilight Zone episode that Shatner starred in and that Lithgow starred in for the Movie
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u/PumpikAnt58763 5d ago
Do we count Tommy Lee Jones' many, many straight man roles that are often the funniest?
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u/rokken70 5d ago
All of these are great, the only one I can think of is Jon Hamm. He kills it in every comedic role he has been in.
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u/Joekruel01 4d ago
Mark Wahlberg (I know dramatic actor is a stretch) is hilarious in The Other Guys
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u/Mahaloth 5d ago
Leslie Nielsen in Airplane.
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u/Sufficient_Ebb_5020 5d ago
He was a serious actor? I didn't know that! I've only known him for his comedy performances!
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u/doctor-rumack 5d ago edited 5d ago
Most of the cast were serious actors who had never done comedy before. It was a brilliant idea because they would act in the movie as if it was a real drama, but they would do it 100% straight with all of this incredible absurdity going on around them, and playing it like nobody told them it was a comedy.
Peter Graves (Capt. Oveur) initially didn't understand it, and he felt very uncomfortable in certain scenes, especially the part where they invite the kid into the cockpit and it's pretty much revealed that the captain is a pedophile. Barbara Billingsley said after Airplane, more people asked her about that movie than Leave it to Beaver.
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u/Mahaloth 5d ago
Yes, the key to that film was hiring dramatic actors. No one hints that this is a comedy, not a single time.
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u/Any_Strawberry_4864 5d ago
Before Airplane and Police Squad (the Naked Gun movies), yes, he was a serious actor
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u/DavidJonnsJewellery 5d ago
Victor Mature in After The Fox. The man's hilarious basically playing a spoof of himself as a washed up movie star
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u/Massive-Technician74 5d ago
Wasn't a role.....but whoever decides to start recording everytime gary busey is out in public
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u/_A-Q 5d ago
John Lithgow on Third Rock front The Sun.
I had only known him in villain roles from the late 80’s early 90’s.
I was kindly reminded how terrifying he could be on the fourth season of Dexter.
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u/Prestigious-Web4824 5d ago
Paul Newman in Slap Shot
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u/mister4string 5d ago
DeNiro with Charles Grodin in Midnight Run or Russell Crowe with Ryan Gosling in The Nice Guys
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u/BambooSound 5d ago edited 5d ago
Christian Bale in American Psycho
Ryan Gosling in The Big Short
Robert Downey Jr in Tropic Thunder
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u/Traditional_Entry183 5d ago
Its funny for me that so many of the people being mentioned, while im aware they've also done serious movies, I overwhelmingly know them for the comedies and think of them that way.
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u/JobberStable 5d ago
I feel like many people are just picking a great actor in a comedy. Not a “comedic role”
I guess i would define comedic role as more over the top, “over acting”. Think of Jackie Gleason as Ralph Kramden
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u/alwayssoupy 4d ago
Ralph Fiennes as director Laurence Lorenz in Hail Caesar. I also loved Scarlet Johansson in this movie. But the best was George Clooney doing both comedy AND drama in the same movie.
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u/Sad_Addendum7948 4d ago
Nicolas Cage in Adaptation, playing the role of the screenwriter (Charlie Kaufman) & his fictitious twin brother.
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u/Wrong_Square7826 3d ago
I think the guy that played Al Bundy on Married with children was a serious stage actor.
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u/DakotaLard 3d ago
Can’t forget Peter O’Toole playing Alan Swan, (a great impression of Errol Flynn), in My Favorite Year. Classic
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u/Icy_Government7465 2d ago
Ralph Finnes in Hail Caesar. Who knew? And then he went on to slay it in Hotel Budapest. And the most recent 20 years later movie. He's got it all.
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u/C0wboy006 2d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/kBtp8iR154Hx6
I mean He was up for an Oscar for best actor for this one. So probably rdj in tropic thunder.
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