MovieChat Forums > Casualties of War (1989) Discussion > Why do people say Penn is better than Fo...

Why do people say Penn is better than Fox?


Michael J.Fox was great in this film and more than held his own against Penn with an understated performance.
I was pleasantly surprised that Fox played it low-key,I thought he might have overdone it because of his comedic reputation,but he didn,t.
Penn just seemed to go overboard and try and steal the attention from him,but for me,Fox held his own.Alot of people would say Penn was the more talented on the whole (probably Fox himself),but why?
No doubt about it,Penn can do anger,rage and intense as good as anyone,but for me,that,s all he can do.
Fox might not be one of the very best dramatic actors,but he,s competent enough,some of his scenes in this were brilliant,mostly with expression(especially on the train).
It just annoys me that people claim Penn is a better actor just because he,s done alot more drama?
Imagine him trying to do light film roles like Fox,or doing a sitcom for several years in front of a studio audience,with great comic timing and delivery.He,d fall on his a$$.
Critics make out it,s just about been great at drama.
You can say whose performance you preferred in this film,but you can,t say who,s the better actor.
It,s apples and oranges.
Just my two cents.

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I'm journeying through the Brian De Palma filmography and have developed something of a distaste for Sean Penn's Oscar-bait Method over-acting over the years; to this day, I still think the best performance he's probably given was, no joke, "Fast Times At Ridgemont High," and I bet a lot of people still think that (note: on the set of even that comedy, Penn annoyed the hell out of other actors with his prima donna Method bulls*** and earned the derisive nickname "Sean De Niro.") It doesn't help that Penn won Oscars by beating out Bill Murray in 2003 and Mickey Rourke in 2008, and I feel both of the latter performances were far superior; think of how much acclaim Murray got at the time as compared to Penn, whose "IS THAT MY DAUGHTER IN THERE!!!!" is one of the most widely mocked moments in movie history by now in certain circles (check Onion AV Club reader comment sections sometime.)


Anyway, I just got done with "Casualties Of War" and I don't think I've ever seen Penn give a worse performance--some of the hammiest "tough guy" garbage I've ever seen, especially his accent and mannerisms. People snicker at Fox for being short and say "Marty McFly goes to Vietnam," and while I don't think Fox was great certainly he's less of an embarrassment than Penn (both actors seem to have received acclaim in the reviews of COW when it actually came out in 1989, if you read the newspaper reviews.)

Penn's performance in COW seems symptomatic of a kind of Method-ish over-the-top "psycho" acting that infected young actors back in the late 80s who were desperately trying to be the next Brando and win Oscars. Off the top of my head the most immediate example of this is Crispin Glover in "River's Edge," or Nicolas Cage in "Vampire's Kiss."

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I agree with everything you said about Penn --- I have believed and said the same thing for decades

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imagine him doing "light" film roles like fox?

uh, did you ever see fast times at ridgemont high? doesn't get more light than that, and he was brilliant.

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To be fair I've never seen that,but he was crap in We're No Angels.But his "is that my daughter scene"in Mystic River was hilarious.

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[deleted]

NOT BETTER THAN FOX!!!!!

just his cast name ranking is above fox. he is #1 , Fox is #2 only. not a matter, who said that he is better than fox? this movie features Penn. it's true.

Featuring Sean Penn, not feature Michael J Fox.

but Michael J Fox is still great.

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