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.

[–] suzanne_clark78 17 years ago

I'm just watching the film now for the first time and just said to my other half how good Brad Pitt is in this film. He plays a good crazy man.

[–] terry_desmond 17 years ago

Someone on this post said that Pitt had tips on how to act from a professional psychiatrist. So, a lot of his tics came from how mentally disturbed people really act. He did an awful lot of research into the roll. How come the Pitt critics never debated this point?
Someone else mentioned that sometimes he sleepwalks through rolls, so he may not be that interested in them. I used to do am dram (and no, I am not comparing myself to professionals) and this is what I noticed .After the show, everyone would go up to the bar, and see the members of the audience (basically so we could have drinks bought for us, and have our egos fuelled!). If the director was good, normally, people would ignore the direction and tell al the performers how good we all were. However, if the director was poor, again, the director would be ignored, but we as performers could tell that we were getting the lions share fo the blame for the bad performances. The thing is, we did not put more or less effort into the show, we just did not know what we were meant to be doing all the time, as we were not directed that well. What I am saying is, that it is very rare that you will get bad performances from a good director (unless you are not very good to begin with), but with a bad director, your performance can stink

"God doesn't believe in religion"

[–] big_kmc 17 years ago

...It looked like he was trying to imitate Chris Farley on crack. It was so distracting and he made the movie seem second rate. I think he's an okay actor but he's a horrible mimic, maybe he shouldn't have done the research on crazy people.

[–] terry_desmond 17 years ago

Errrr.....he did!

"God doesn't believe in religion"

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] big_kmc 17 years ago

I am not debating that he did. I am saying he shouldn't have b/c I think it took away from his acting and brought our this malperforming mimic side of him.

[–] dinoparade 17 years ago

all this hate and no reasons, typical.

"Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."

[–] darrenholznagel 17 years ago

Your an idiot

[–] jcoc_ap204 17 years ago

I think you just want some attention little kid. jjd430, where do I begin??? This is Brad Pitt's best performance by a mile. You need to re-watch with a better attitude and mindset. Also watch Troy, The Assassination of Jesse James, and Se7en and tell me that guy cannot act. You are just an ignorant troll until then as far as I'm concerned.

[–] jjd430 17 years ago

This is really unfair. I'm an old guy, not a little kid or a troll. I watched the movie and was transfixed, until Pitt shows up on the screen. He's a distracting mess, and he ruined 7 for me, as well. He's more of a celebrity than an "actor," I suppose. You know something? Even Ed Burns is a better actor, and he's just a regular guy reading a script.

[–] ben-ram 17 years ago

Brad Pitt can act when he is given a good script say for instance Fight Club or Oceans Eleven(but none of the others lol) and then there are movies where he gets *beep* scripts say Interview with a vampire or this. I personally liked him in this even though there was a horrible script....its not that he cant act....its just that there wasnt much he could do with it.

[–] big_kmc 17 years ago

Well at least you can see that his performances aren't always perfect and depend on other factors. I think it's funny and weird when someone insists that an actor could never have an off performance. Even Al Pacino has had off performances and the actors themselves will admit to this. There's many factors like as you said the script, etc. that affect performance.

[–] suicidea 16 years ago

The first poster does not know anything about movies, or acting, or about the concept of cinema.

Yes, he did act clownish, stupid, exaggerated, but that's HOW IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE. That was his CHARACTER.

Just because the guy is handsome, some people expect him to walk around like Adonis.

I hate people who, although they have no talent, are treated like stars just because they look good. But pitt is not so. Perhaps he got into movies because of his looks, I admit, but he's a terrific actor.

Never be complete.

[–] cassbtt 16 years ago

I hate people who, although they have no talent, are treated like stars just because they look good. But pitt is not so. Perhaps he got into movies because of his looks, I admit, but he's a terrific actor

I too like it when the good lookers turn the tables on the industry that tells 'em how to lift a finger, shout a profanity, or take off their clothes, and instead get to strut their gray matter.

Let's face it, they have to have the brains... I could never even memorize lines like they do!

But these types seem few and far between. Even if there are lots of 'em that we don't know about, they seem to "settle" too easily on the glam and red carpet crap.

Redford is one, taking on the industry by the ear with his Sundance production company and festival. I guess you'd have to hand it to Eastwood, too. He could have just kept doing spaghetti westerns or Dirty Harry; instead he's out winning oscars for other than acting.

Now we see Kathryn Railly herself (Madeleine Stowe), another good looker who's freeing herself from the clutches of 2nd banana acting roles to show a lot of brains on top of her (sigh!) looks and talent. She's taking on the directing chore of a script she wrote (and for which she was offered an option for at $5 million): http://akas.imdb.com/title/tt1437369/.

There are others, but they don't come to mind. We should assemble a list here.

Let's wait and see if Pitt can expand beyond his flexible acting to other artistic/intellectual endeavors, in or outside the film world, and whether he'll be able to adapt to "older" character roles when he hits his 50's and 60's.

Links to "Twelve Monkeys" Pages
www.tempesta-tormenta.com

[–] terryinwva 17 years ago

I think Brad Pitt is a great actor. Nothing more to say.

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] MovieDude1893 17 years ago

Brad Pitt, in my opinion CAN act, although it took him a few films to learn how to do so. 12 Monkeys represents his first truly noteworthy performance.(He was memorable in True Romance, but that was at best a glorified cameo.) I think he needs to go a bit over the top with the character to keep us engaged in the first act of the film, when many things are transpiring that will not make sense until the plot unravels. He was enjoyable and deserved his Oscar nomination, luckily he did not win, Kevin Spacey won deservedly. So, if Pitt didn't win, what is all the fuss about?

Last Film Seen: The Savages {***1/2/****}

[–] trpnallday 17 years ago

Does noone here know what black/dark comedy is??

Webster Dictionary:
black humor - the juxtaposition of morbid and farcical elements (in writing or drama) to give a disturbing effect

With this in mind I reckon that Brad Pitt's character was supposed to act in an over-the-top fashion as his character was supposed to poke fun at all of the stereotypes about mentally ill people and insane assylums. Also it is made pretty clear that his character is not actually insane, just a poseur who is insecure and fashions himself as a wild and whacky madman who people are drawn to which he uses to create his little "club." Further continuing the black humor trend is that the ultimate irony of all this is that while the audience knows the 12 monkeys are just a bunch of dumb punks, the characters all take them seriously and believe the punks were the ones who released the virus.

Lastly, for anyone who has seen "One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest," Gillean uses Pitt to spoof several bits from that movie including the breakout attempt.

[–] rydogg707 17 years ago

Merriam-Webster defines acting as “the art or practice of representing a character on a stage or before cameras”.

When viewing any film, ask yourself if you see the character represented, or the actor. A good example of this is the movie Forest Gump. I think we can all agree that Tom Hanks is a very good actor, and when viewing Forest Gump, do you see “Tom Hanks playing (or attempting to play) Forest Gump”, or do you see Forest Gump (and not Tom Hanks)? If anyone sees “Tom Hanks playing Forest Gump” then they have a different way experiencing movies.

Everyone is different and has different ways for watching movies. For me, it is really easy to escape into the movies. I can easily suspend belief and enjoy the film. There are very few movies that I don’t enjoy, specifically for that reason. My friends and I all have different views about film. They hate that I enjoy every film, because they wish they could. I guess I am easily pleased and have a very positive outlook on life.

Movies are just a story, much like a book, or short story, however a group of people got together and did all the “imagining” for you. Therefore you are seeing what they wanted you to see. Rather than, when reading a book, you see what you want to see, what you imagine, and it’s personal and different for you. No two people imagine a book exactly the same, because characters and locations will be visualized differently to everyone.

My point is that when you claim someone can’t act, that is your opinion. And we all have different opinions. That is what make us unique and have the ability to evolve and have the society we have today.

Personally I didn’t see “Brad Pitt playing Jeffery Goines” when I saw 12 Monkeys, I saw Jeffrey Goines. I saw the character he was portraying, and representing. Therefore, in my opinion, I feel Brad Pitt did great job acting in the movie. Rarely do I see “Brad Pitt playing <insert character name here>” in films, I see his characters, thus, to me, he is a good actor and can act.

[–] big_kmc 17 years ago

Why do people post the obvious as "we all have different opinions" It's so arrogant to express the obvious as if you are the only person who can see it. If we all didn't know we had different opinons we wouldn't even come on IMDB to discuss anything b/c we would assume everyone is thinking the same as us. People should either post with evidence to support the point or against the point.

In response to another poster's remark that Brad Pitt doesn't care what we think, people who post on here aren't intersted in Brad Pitt knowing their opinion they obviously enjoy debate or writing or discussing movies. I just find it sad that people don't understand that people do things b/c they enjoy them not b/c they care what other people think, including Hollywood actors.

[–] snooch121 17 years ago

I wouldn't enjoy watching anyone else play a crazy person... or more specifically... a crazy person that one can laugh at without feeling guilty afterward. IMO, he lightened the intensity of the rest of the movie allowing us to chuckle a few times at the crazy *beep* he was saying... I thought it was weird at first but it's one of the many quirks that make this movie really interesting for me.

Is a hippopotamus really a hippopotamus, or just a really cool opotamus?