MovieChat Forums > Twelve Monkeys (1996) Discussion > Brad Pitt Can't Act

Brad Pitt Can't Act

posted 17 years ago by jjd430
263 replies | jump to latest

I just watched 12 M. for the first time, all the way through. Is the reason that IMDB describes it as a black comedy because Pitt's performance is so clownish and exaggerated? Was he not directed!? I don't think he was at this undeserved exalted place in pop. culture at the time, so why didn't they fire him after the first few dailies? He's just awful and distracting in every scene.
I was never a Brad Pitt hater, but his performance in Seven was bad, too. I also saw him in an earlier obscure flick and he was terrible there as well. 12 M would have been a much better movie, and possibly a cult classic, without him in that key role. Brad must've been a pool boy for some influential producer back in the day. He surely can't act.

[–] nikolaij 17 years ago

The OP makes a fool of himself - everybody his own!

[–] krisluvkev 17 years ago

I thought he was very good, he was supposed to act over the top his character was nuts.

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] dodson-andrew 17 years ago

jjd (near the bottom on page 1): "Pitt needed better directing since he had no natural instinct for his character."

Wow, which basic textbook on acting did you skim through to get that knowledge on acting?

[–] idaescu 17 years ago

Watch him please in The assassination of jesse james and tell me more after

[–] eerwicker 17 years ago

I just watched him. My god, he is awful. I would like to kick him for every twitch he gives. And he cannot deliver dialog. In ever film I've ever seen him in, he's sounded like a mogadon case manning a call centre. Shame, cos from what I've read he's a decent enough fellow and from what women tell me, he's pretty (if, some add, charmless).

I am a sick man... I am a spiteful man. An unattractive man. I think that my liver hurts.

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[–] raddster 17 years ago

something i noticed about brad pitt, he just doesnt try in some movies, u will see movies were he is really good, and others where he almost sucks, it all depends on what the movie means to him i guessing, like if he aint an extreme fan of how it sounds, he wont try as hard, but if he likes but if he is, yea he will try, like 12 monkeys and fight club, he did good in those movies, and they both mention the consept of consumerism, how we are all dependant on our money and play this general role... w/e anythings thats my view.

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] jinxta 17 years ago

dude..you're obviously just a Brad Pitt fanboy turned bad..you want to be him so bad, you actually hate the guy for being himself..its a great laugh but sad & pathetic all at once.

Contra Mundi ad Infinitum

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] jinxta 17 years ago

yeah thats great kid..but my post wasnt addressed to you now was it? this one is though..

[–] goalieman112 17 years ago

yet he was nominated for best supporting actor? sorry you fail

[–] bighand99-1 17 years ago

I thought he did well in this movie, although his best role was in "Cutting Class".

[–] slugo76 17 years ago

amateur

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[–] talzion_eriks-1 17 years ago

I agree. I normally like him, but in this role, it seemed unnatural at times, and others, I think he was missing a neon sign spelling out 'ECCENTRIC!'. His opening scenes went well, but it went downhill shortly after. It was my first viewing, but I think it started around the bunk scene at the asylum.

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[–] tumbleweeds 17 years ago

Gilliam did direct him, and obviously he did not want a 100 percent realistic portrayal of mental illness. So while the blame can't be put entirely on Pitt, I agree he sucked in this movie. Was very fake and hammy. Even if it was supposed to be comical, Pitt didn't make it at all genuine. Very obvious HEY I'M ACTING LOOK AT MY ANTICS!

I agree the man is not a good actor at all.

The ONLY reason he got an Oscar nom was because this movie came out right as he had become a huge heart throb. In case you didn't know, The Academy is full of crap.

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[–] christianrecile 17 years ago

In case everyone doesnt realize the academy is full of crap but I can't ever remember them giving an academy award nomination for a bad performance. They often don't give the right nominations to the right people and forget or overlook performances.. They certainly don't give awards or nominations to bad performances just not the right ones. This was a brilliant performance. It isn't a coincedence that this film holds an 8.3 rating with over a 100,000 votes. This is a ridiculous post. Solid performance.

[–] tumbleweeds 17 years ago

The performance was terrible. I think the "idiots" are the people who think Pitt's performance was worthy of an oscar or even a nom. While the rest of the film can hold up over time, Brad's performance stands out as some horrible retarded failed Wile E. Coyote thing.

He just sucked. He is no a good actor. And the only people who are "idiots" is people like you who continue to suck him off.

Meanwhile his star has plummeted. People realize that he's nothing. He's just some douche who bangs all the starlets.

[–] Xcalat3 17 years ago

Brad Pitt was great in 12 Monkeys

When there's no more room in hell, The dead will walk the earth...

[–] pninson 17 years ago

I think Brad Pitt is an excellent actor. I based that on his performances in THELMA AND LOUISE, A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT, THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES, and several others.

His performance in TWELVE MONKEYS is not so much acting as a schtick. This isn't a criticism of Pitt; it's clearly what Gilliam wanted. Why? My guess is that Pitt's herky-jerky antics heighten the sense of unreality and confusion. It's true his character is annoying, and I'm not surprised that some people don't care for it. I get a kick out of it myself, but it is a bit different from serious acting.

Gilliam is a quirky director (see BRAZIL and TIME BANDITS) and TWELVE MONKEYS is his most conventional film. The over-the-top Pitt character is one of his antic touches, along with much of the production design.

I agree with the original poster that the movies Pitt did with Juliette Lewis are dire, but not because Pitt acts badly. It's just that his characters are so repulsive in these films, which argues for effective acting. It's just that the subject matter (murder, rape, child abuse) is very off-putting. I wouldn't be surprised if Pitt isn't particularly proud of them.

I can't really find fault with his performance in SE7EN. I do have some problems with the movie, but not with the acting. Again, it's very unpleasant subject matter. A well-made movie, but a real downer.

We report, you decide; but we decide what to report.