Seinfeld wasn't a good actor either but at least he tried and his show was awesome. All we have here is a parody of the nerd with 3 facial expressions : The angry nerd, the surprised nerd and the thinking nerd (almost the same as the angry nerd), that's it. Just the same thing over and over and over. At least the hot chick is not bad.
shareHe's a bad actor. He really is
shareHe is not a bad actor.
The character is just very limited. He HAS acted relatively convincingly in many of his AVGN episodes, he has been angry in a way that I have thought he was actually angry, or that there was actual anger there.
Of course the 'buffalo shát through the window'-scene is pretty atrocious, but in some videos, he is giving a passable or an acceptable performance, even if it's not brilliant. I guess it depends on what he is trying to portray.
Many times, in the old videos, when he asks: "What were they thinking?", it really seems very convincing, like he is actually frustrated and asking it honestly and truly. In some later videos, that sentiment became a lot less convincing and said without emotion.
I'd say his acting skills are least in the Jerry Seinfeld-category. Sometimes Seinfeld is convincing, sometimes he's not. It's the same with James Rolfe - he CAN be convincing (a lot of the older AVGN episodes are proof of that), but he can also be unconvincing (some of the older, and a lot of the newer AVGN videos are proof of that).
I'd say he's a "so-so"-actor, that sometimes fails to convince, but sometimes manages to do it just fine.
His acting skills do not even matter, in my opinion, because his best work - the older AVGN videos - would still be marvellous, even with the worst acting in the world. His real talent is elsewhere, and he is a very good reviewer in everything that matters.
Too bad he loves the horror and zombie stuff so much - he pretty much admits that AVGN was just a side kick, almost like an accident, a small joke that went viral unexpectedly. He is not committed to that character, his real love is monsters, zombies, and moviemaking.
So, he does have some acting skills, but in my opinion, that doesn't matter, since his review-making skills are what matters to video game review videos. And he has that.
It's easier to carry a ten minute web review than a two hour movie. Not only that, he was also director. It's tough to balance both roles, especially since this production is so much larger than he's used to.
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