So, Robert De Niro...is it just me or... (1 Viewer)

[Bob Cashill]

By the time De Niro started "dumbing down," in the late 80s, the film business had changed--the auteur directors and their sometimes surprisingly successful films were out, and the suits were in charge, warming up formula for broader tastes (of course they were always there, even in the fabled 70s, but it's the memory of the groundbreaking films that endures). De Niro had to change, to stay in the game, and he had some success there, too. (Midnight Run stands with his best work.) No one was making 1900, or The Last Tycoon, or Mean Streets anymore.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Maybe not, but there used to be a strong "greatest actor alive" thing De Niro had going for him, and that's long gone.


Maybe it would've been long gone even if he'd picked better movies, but I still think he allowed himself to be turned into a joke. There's no longer that mystique De Niro used to have...

To say he's turn into a joke is hyperbole to me.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Midnight Run stands with his best work.

I agree completely! And it's finally coming to Blu-ray. I don't know that I've ever laughed as hard at a movie as I did the first time I saw this.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I don't think De Niro's legacy is affected because the films he made are not going anywhere. I look at it as in 20 or 30 years what films will De Niro be remembered for? His 1970s and 1980s work. Nobody is going to be talking about Dirty Grandpa unless it will be to say how far away from his best work he actually got.


I feel like I should explain why I have an issue with Dirty Grandpa. It is not the content of the film or that I am some kind of prude...I don't like it because it is just BAD WRITING and BAD FILMMAKING. Anger Management looks like Lawrence of Arabia when compared to that Dirty Grandpa nonsense. The "laughs" in Dirty Grandpa are not derived through creating characters and situations that pull you into the story and generate laughs because you feel something for the characters and what is happening to them. No, these laughs are the equivalent of the horror movie jump scare...they are just supposed to be funny because they got somebody famous (in this case De Niro) to say or do something stupid/disgusting/offensive/sexually outrageous. In other words it is not about anything except watching a famous actor say and do things to make them look like an ass in the most low rent way possible. I have no issue with being offensive and I think offending people can at times be a good thing because it stimulates some sort of emotion in them...but watching the Dirty Grandpa trailer I felt no emotion I just questioned why De Niro did this.


De Niro should know better at this stage to involve himself in something like this and nobody will convince me he was so hard up for cash he had to do it. Nicolas Cage is doing every film that comes his way for the paycheck...De Niro is not in that situation.


I'm only concerned about it because I like De Niro and knowing who his wife is makes me really question why he would take a role that required him to spew lines about Queen Latifah shitting in his mouth...that seems like something she would hardly be amused by and find fairly embarrassing that her husband would choose to play this part. Not that his wife should be choosing his roles for him and I'm sure she does not but I mean it seems just one more reason why he might have thought about passing on this nonsense.


I've seen Anger Management and of the Adam Sandler stuff I've seen I actually think it is one of the best projects he has appeared in. Not because of him but because of Nicholson and the supporting cast...who are all very funny. I mean they did something quite smart with Anger Management by filling out the cast with great actors that pull from Sandler one of his better performances. I actually only ended up watching it because at a family gathering my mother wanted to put it on and she did not say "Do you want to watch the new Adam Sandler film?" she said "Have you seen this new Jack Nicholson film? He is hilarious!" and it turned out I laughed a lot watching the thing. I don't think Nicholson was "flexing acting muscles he had never used" because the part was actually right up his alley and boy, does he run with it. The script for Anger Management does actually create characters and situations that organically create comic moments. It's not a bunch of "Hey, look there's Zac Efron in a stuffed animal thong!" and "Ha, ha, ha! De Niro just said poop in my mouth!"


Watch the trailer for Anger Management and you can see Nicholson is on his game. Watch the trailer for Dirty Grandpa and you see De Niro riffing on being De Niro and saying absolutely asinine lines that are just supposed to make us laugh because they were said by De Niro...to me, that's not funny it's just unimaginative and dumb. I don't think De Niro is "having fun" doing it and I would bet money he checked his bank account to make sure the check cleared before he showed up, did one take, got in his car and left.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Now, I definitely want to see Dirty Grandpa! At least for a matinee.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

So, you're into Zac Efron in a stuffed animal thong, Robert...that opens up a lot of ideas for Christmas gifts for you! Zac Efron in a thong posters and maybe a stuffed animal thong...of course somebody needs to find out what size you wear!

 

[Robert Crawford]

No need to get personal.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I was joking and really, I have no idea what size you wear. And in case you wondered I wear a men's medium or a 32 waist.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I was joking and really, I have no idea what size you wear. And in case you wondered I wear a men's medium or a 32 waist.

I knew you were kidding, otherwise, my response would have been more so.

 

[PMF]

Don't forget that DeNiro was courting comedy since the early 70's with a lesser seen film entitled "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight" (1971). And then there were two underappreciated Scorsese collaborations with "The King of Comedy" (1982); along with the first half of Scorsese's "New York, New York" (1977); to which I felt DeNiro showed great comedic skills and timing within what he did best...character acting.


Sanford Meisner, the late and legendary acting coach who trained 50 years of students; including Robert Duvall, Gregory Peck, Eli Wallach, Grace Kelly, Joanne Woodward, Diane Keaton and directors such as Sidney Lumet, Bob Fosse and Sydney Pollack; advised his alumni to do ALL the plays that one could do, be they good ones or bad ones. Just stay busy, always keep working and eventually the right script, director and actor will all come together and meet.


And then there is the late Harold Clurman; a NYC stage director, critic and author; who also addressed the same theme by saying, "It takes a lot of manure to grow a single rose".


DeNiro still remains busy and therefore the rest will follow. So, take heart.

 

[Mikael Soderholm]

But the probem is not him doing comedy, is it? It's him doing BAD comedy, and maybe even doing it badly, or uninspiredly. It is the preceived waste of talent that is annoying, not that he wants to make a good paycheck, because he is worth every cent he gets.

I just wish he would do it doing great movies, again.

 

[Robert Crawford]

So every comedy he's been in has been bad? I'm not buying that!

 

[Mikael Soderholm]

Maybe I was unclear, I did not mean every comedy he's been in has been bad, I meant he seems to choose worse comedies now than before, and that is bad.

I liked him in New York, New York; I liked him in Stardust. Many of the newer examples given in this thread seem missable, to me.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I heard The Intern was pretty good.

 

[Vic Pardo]

But the probem is not him doing comedy, is it? It's him doing BAD comedy, and maybe even doing it badly, or uninspiredly. It is the preceived waste of talent that is annoying, not that he wants to make a good paycheck, because he is worth every cent he gets.

I just wish he would do it doing great movies, again.

He was very funny in two of his earliest movies, both directed by Brian de Palma: GREETINGS (1968) and HI, MOM (1970).

 

[TravisR]

I heard The Intern was pretty good.

Oddly enough, Oliver Stone said that on Facebook today.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Oddly enough, Oliver Stone said that on Facebook today.

Damn, you follow Oliver Stone? He must be a trip!

 

[TravisR]

Damn, you follow Oliver Stone? He must be a trip!

Yeah, he's been busy working on Snowden and not posting much but he does post about political topics, stories & links and occasionally he shoots the breeze about recent movies that he's enjoyed.

 

[Michael Elliott]

Maybe not, but there used to be a strong "greatest actor alive" thing De Niro had going for him, and that's long gone.


Maybe it would've been long gone even if he'd picked better movies, but I still think he allowed himself to be turned into a joke. There's no longer that mystique De Niro used to have...

I agree to a point but it then goes back to my point that most "great" actors ended their careers doing really bad or bland movies. I think there are very few examples that say otherwise. Cagney certainly walked away while on top. Henry Fonda got to end his career with a grand slam but the twenty years before ON GOLDEN POND were pretty bland. James Stewart, Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck all appeared in some stinkers to keep working. Bette Davis and WICKED STEPMOTHER. Sidney Poitier, Melvyn Douglas, Paul Newman, Joan Crawford and countless others. Duvall and Hackman made some bad films but they're still considered great.


I think once DeNiro dies people will still consider him one of the greatest actors because they're going to be talking about TAXI DRIVER and RAGING BULL and GOODFELLAS. They're not going to talk about HEIST or ANALYZE THAT. I'm also not sure I'd call him a joke. He's still respected by directors and actors. I don't think Leno, Letterman, Fallon and the others were cracking jokes on him.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

To say he's turn into a joke is hyperbole to me.

Not to me...