MovieChat Forums > Mike Myers Discussion > The problem with Myers....

The problem with Myers....


Is that he never plays a regular guy. With the exception of So I married and axe murderer, he has always played a "character". Wayne, Shrek, Austin, Love guru, etc.

The guy needs to play a regular guy in a comedy to get his career back on track. Digging up old characters is not the way to go, it shows you've run out of talent.

and I am rooting for the guy.

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It's called re-inventing yourself.

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Mike Myers is a character actor, bottom line. He plays over-the-top characters. You want relateable everyday, run-of-the-mill character in a movie, go to someone like Kevin Costner or something. We love Mike for what he does and I'm all for a new Austin Powers or a new Wayne's World(GOT MY EFFIN FINGERS CROSSED ON THAT ONE!).

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Sorry for trying to get the guy to try something different. He hasn't had a good film since The Spy Who Shagged Me, which was in 1999. Of course I'm talking about films where he's the lead.

But if you want him to continue what he's doing, then go ahead and enjoy another Love Guru. I know I won't.

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I completely agree with the assessment that Mike Myers is most definitely a character actor. That is not a bad thing. Some of the brilliant non-character actors can not pull of these roles because their abilities lie in being able to become anyone. Some of the all time cult classic comedies were made by character actors. Bill Murray is a good example. I'm sorry to say that when he played normal characters, I didn't much enjoy them. But in "Stripes", or "Groundhog Day", or "What About Bob?", he was in his element and created some great motion pictures. Christopher Walken and many other character actors brilliantly depict some of the characters they were born to depict. Some actors have become upset that they were typecast after things like The Beverly Hillbillies, or The Andy Griffith Show. But I don't believe so. I believe they just found a great niche for who they were as an actor and were highly successful because of it.

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Christopher Walken and many other character actors brilliantly depict some of the characters they were born to depict.
I agree 100%. Certain actors, such as Myers and Walken, do their best work when they 'play' a character and not 'themselves'.
Myers, for instance, is so good that when I first saw "Austin Powers in: Goldmember" I didn't even know he played Goldmember himself! That's how good he is.
Richard Gere is another good example. He has played roles similar to himself, and he always comes off as 'being Richard Gere'. But when he plays roles like Edward Sumner in "Unfaithful" or John Klein in "The Mothman Prophecies" he does that much better.


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...is Jimmy Fallon.

Mike Myers based his comedy on doing vignettes of caricatures (some really funny, most of the others NOT FUNNY). Now that he's pushing 50 and hasn't been busy on the TV or other mass media outlets he hasn't had time to compete with the younger generation of mimic comedians flooding the genre.

I mentioned Jimmy Fallon not because I equate him with Myers but because his lower-denominator type of humor is what's popular now. Jimmy and that other douchenozzle Tosh.0 are what's big now.


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I agree with you on that one. Of all of his work, I like So I Married An Axe Murder the most. Also, from what I have read that is one of his that he does not care for too much. I think it worked better for him because he was limited on how outrageous of a character he was playing. He was better grounded in reality. I think he should look at more movies where he is not allowed to go crazy with makeup, costumes, or accents.

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