MovieChat Forums > Paranoid Park (2007) Discussion > Awful acting from 'Macy', Alex's friend.

Awful acting from 'Macy', Alex's friend.

posted 14 years ago by d-kuhn
7 replies | jump to latest

The only problem I've had with Gus Van Sant's personal independent movies with child actors (Elephant had the same problem) is the hoffific acting from some of the actors.

Elephant had lots of bad actors, but in Paranoid Park, for the most part, all of the acting was good except for "Macy", Alex's friend who he has coffee with.

She is just a horrible actor. The lead (Alex) was pretty good, but his nararation was bad at points. The girlfriend was good, but she seemed to over-do the bitchy type thing a little too much.

But did anyone else HATE the actress who played "Macy"?

[–] sureynot 14 years ago

yea, i usually get over stuff like that especially when i know the actor is like my age, but this was beyond distracting. Especially when they had coffee in the mall, holy shyt. I understand Gus Van Sant's proclivity for using young actors but when they seem as callow and awkward as "Macy" I feel like its unnecessary.

[–] ispamforfood 14 years ago

I actually thought her character "worked" pretty well.

[–] MadchenJ 14 years ago

I was just watching this on Netflix and paused it after that scene to come over here and she what else she did because she wasn't much of an actress. I saw it was her only movie. Her acting was pretty freaking bad. (I hope she doesn't read this.)

[–] keyjo 14 years ago

Van Sant likes to make local films (Portland) with local students. With this and ELEPHANT, the cast was not professional actors, but locals. Occasionally one of those kids gets a launch into professional acting. Gabe Nevins (Paranoid Park) and Alex Frost and John Robinson (Elephant) have gone on to other roles.

[–] girl_on_wire 13 years ago

Why does everyone think her acting was bad? She was a local student, Her character is a girl who is wise and opinionated but also young and harboring a crush on the lead. I don't know much about traditional acting, but she played the role of an awkward, human teenage girl very well. Maybe I misread the flaws as pluses.

Also, it is interesting that the other teenage girl character, the slightly unhinged girlfriend, is also criticized. I'm guessing that the two female roles were harder to play than the role of the lead's male teenage friends, who only had to act chill and say things like, "Dude, what the hell happened to your old skateboard?"

[–] IForgotAbout19 13 years ago

I totally disagree. I thought she was the most engaging actor/character in the movie.

[–] Mitzishark 13 years ago

I thought she was really good, and she reminded me so much ofloads of kids from school, in the way she dressed and her mannerisms, even the way she held herself. Maybe people think she is a bad actor because they do not realise that she is meant to be very self-conscious and most probably insecure, only she tries to hide this with a mask of self-assuredness and over-assertiveness.

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