I always liked Matt Damon in any roles but I had doubts how he will cope with a gay role. I have to admit he was truly convincing, he was gay in his moves, his walk, his appearance... Never too much, just as much as necessary. Grats Matt!
shareHe was very good in this film, I'm surprised, I also like Douglass performance as well.
shareI almost didn't want to watch this film because I'm no fan of Damon. Well, I'm glad I did and I was impressed by his performance. In fact, everyone put in a good performance!
shareNah, he's been good before. He just spent too much time on those shaky Bourne movies.
I'm not a fan of his, but he had good performances in Courage Under Fire and was the only thing that wasn't goofy in Invictus. He'll win an Oscar for acting one day as his bro Ben Affleck will win for directing. They should concentrate on their strengths and stop trying to do both.
Damon gives one of the most mature, deep, multi-layered performances of his career. Even his silences have more power than Douglas' flamboyant impersonation. Those who wonder how Damon would do in a gay role:— where were you when he did Ripley? — one of his best and under-appreciated performances. And he put a beautiful unspoken gay seductive undertow into "Rounders." Just compare his interpretation of "hustling" with Cruise's "Color of Money."
What would be fascinating to see is his skill in playing the dark, angry, aggressive gay roles in great scripts written especially for him.
A better question might be this: how well do you think Douglas did with his biopic gay role? If you knew Liberace in his era, in his medium, he was a much warmer performer than Douglas' portrayal. He wasn't just a sugar pill for old ladies, or a strutting travesty of a drag queen. In performance the real Liberace was not high-strung or manic as Douglas is. He shared the unspoken jokes with his audiences; he had a unique audience chemistry that Douglas cannot capture — nor could anyone else. Damon's understated performance in "Candelabra" is masterly in holding his own characterization rock solid and not being drawn off mark by Douglas for one second. He deserves an Oscar for this performance.
Personally I was not thrilled with Damon's "Bourne" outings. Yes they made him a star; but what kind of star, for what kind of role? Damon is far more capable in non-action, character driven, psychologically and sexually complex roles. He is a well read, well-educated, deep thinker. I just wish he had had the opportunity to work in British theater and hone his craft on Shakespeare. Maybe he will. He certainly should have worked through two different interpretations of "Hamlet" by now. I hope he does not wake up just in time for Lear and Prospero. That would be tragedy.
Nice post...
I get that people may not be a fan, he takes a side in political issues after all. I just find it strange that anyone would question his acting chops.
I thought he was great. And it was the best he ever looked on film, prior to the Liberace glamorization and plastic surgery. However, I must have missed the gay seductive undertow in Rounders. I would love to hear where that came from. I loved him in that from the very first voice over......"here's the thing."
shareexcellent job
shareHis best performance since Good Will Hunting
shareI scarcely remember 'Good Will Hunting.' Did his character go through as many changes in that movie as his Scott character did in this?
That is what surprised me - he really was transformed from a somewhat wholesome kid into a druggy cynic, needing to give anything to this old man with hopes of being loved. The plastic surgery didn't change him that radically but he couldn't know that. What changed him was being involved with this selfish old man (who could have just paid him for the sex but wanted to dress it up in romantic flowery terms to make himself look better to whom?)
The Scott character was so sad and pathetic that I did not expect him to go to Liberace's bedside at the end. The human heart can take only so much! Scott seemed to be clean again and away from all the glitz, he seemed more like someone who had hope for the future. He must have known what he would find at that visit.
I think so, too. Great performance.
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