Robert De Niro's worst acting
The end sequence which De-Niro almost breaks in to tears in trying to persuade his son to disarm was unbearably cringeworthy. The facial expressions and the shaky voice was utterly unbearable!
shareI'm sorry you didn't like it, but I found Robert De Niro completely believable in every scene here – including the one you mentioned.
shareThis is one my favourite films by De Niro and I thought the scene where he was cying was really well acted.
Also, everyone cries differently so it's a bit harsh to say that scene was not believable.
If I see a scene with Robert De Niro crying, I'm inclined to believe it's realistic, and this film was no exception.
shareExactly, as he is in every scene of every movie he has ever been in, He never fails to BECOME his character. So warpedRecord I agree with you. Watch Heat if you have never seen it, it's my favorite movie of all time with him as Neil MCaully
shareI have and love "Heat," and De Niro is outstanding in it.
I can't imagine anyone calling this De Niro's worst performance. Maybe they haven't seen that many of his films, or maybe they just want the standard gangster/tough guy he so often plays. I think he was superb here.
Honstly, I've never seen De Niro give a bad performance, but he cranks so many films out that many of them don't deserve his talent: "What Just Happened" and all those "Fockers" films come to mind immediately.
I could not agree more,not the "comedy" fan of his, and you are so right, a lot of them don't deserve his talent.
shareYes, comedy is not De Niro's forte -- unless it's an extremely dark comedy. I much prefer him in drama because he's so good at playing intense characters.
Did you see him hosting "Saturday Night Live" a few months ago? It just seems like he was snickering the whole time, and the writing didn't match his talent.
King of comedy and The Fan are both incredible movies! Just in case you have not seen them check them out.
shareI absolutely love "King of Comedy"! That's probably second only to "Taxi Driver" as my favorite De Niro film. Now that is the kind of comedy he should be doing – dark and weird. "The Fan" is very good also; I just bought that, in fact, after renting it years ago. I'm a big fan of stalker movies. ;-)
One interesting, excellent, overlooked one is "Flawless," with De Niro as a disabled ex-cop getting voice lessons from the transexual next door, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman. Really great to see those two pros together.
Oh thank you! I am going to have to watch Flawless this weekend. I am like you in that King of Comedy is only second to Taxi Driver. Did you happen to see Stone? If yes, what did you think? also Awakenings, This Boys Life? and Once Upon A Time In America? I have not seen it yet. Also I want to see Mean Streets, share what you think of these movies if you get a chance. I love Stalker movies also. WarpedRecord, I think you have great taste in movies!! Thank you for all your great input.
shareThanks very much for your kind word, Jeanniemotherof3! You have excellent taste in movies as well.
I have not seen "Stone" yet, but I'll definitely seek it out. I have such a backlog of films that it often takes me a few years to get to recent releases.
"Awakenings" is beautiful and tremendously depressing. I'd love to see it again when I am up to it, but now is not the time. De Niro is brutally excellent in "This Boy's Life": "Shut your pie hole!" "Mean Streets" is excellent as well, a gathering of some of the finest actors of the '70s beyond very early in their careers.
I have "Once Upon a Time in America," but I haven't watched it yet – it's an epic, and I save those for when I can give them maximum attention.
A few other great De Niro films are "Wag the Dog" (very comedic) "Cop Land," "Marvin's Room," "Cape Fear," "New York, New York," "Midnight Run" (another very comedic role) and "Frankenstein," where he's unrecognizable as the Creature.
The man is very prolific – maybe too much so because he seems to hammer out a lot of films at random these days. Probably the film of his I was most disappointed in was "Godsend," but generally his name in the credits is enough to pull me in.