Michael Keaton is, by far, one of the greteat actors ever!

I agree.

[i]"I'll save you!i]

I recall Tim Burton saying in a brief interview way back then that he cast Keaton in Batman as Bruce Wayne because of Clean and Sober. He thought, like you and me, that Keaton gave the best performance of 1988 in this film. Great minds think alike!

Keaton is an excellent actor and probably deserves more accolades than he gets. However, I suspect he's not ranked higher on the A-List because his portrayals all seem to be similar, despite the difference in characters he plays. In My Life and in Mr Mom, as well as in this one, he plays entirely different characters, yet it often seems he is playing them in the same way. I don't mean to denigrate his performances, which are always great, but I'm not entirely sure he should rank among the very best in terms of his acting ability. But even if he should be of that caliber, in and of itself, skill in acting, especially for male performers, is not always the primary quality that movie-goers use to judge whether a performance excels. Many think Bruce Willis does a great job, for example, but I would question his ability to be convincing in many of the roles he does take on. Indeed, of those you mention, George Clooney and Tommy Lee Jones seem to have this sort of star quality, without (imho) really excelling as actors. (I do think Jackson is a great actor.) In any case, Keaton's acting talent is definitely worthy of merit and makes you believe in the character he is playing, but whether he has something else going for him that would raise his star quality, I'm not sure.

James

It is ironic because he originally didn't want to do it, as I read in an interview with Roger Ebert. Keaton is a good actor and has grown a lot over the years. It is too bad this film didn't do as well as Beetlejuice, which had been released a few months before.

There has seldom been such a convincing one-two punch as Michael Keaton's 1988 twin triumphs in "Beetlejuice" and "Clean and Sober." Not only does it demonstrate his phenomenal talent, but also his stunning versatility. He remains one of my favorite film actors of all time, right up there with Jimmy Stewart and Buster Keaton.

The plateauing of his career arc has always been a mystery to me, since he never gives less than a good performance and often much better. (Nobody could do much with the likes of "Jack Frost.")

I keep hoping he'll score a big hit again and get that long-overdue and much-deserved Oscar that should have been delivered back in 1988 for "Clean and Sober." It's one of the handful of movies I can watch again and again.

I just watched this again for the first time in 20 years. I think it's definitely Keaton's best performance.


Stuck in purgatory.

Michael Keaton is a great actor, who like Robin Williams and Jim Carrey first became famous for "over the top" (in a good way) comedy, and then proved they are very good dramatic actors.