The Best Jeffs: Jeff Daniels Vs. Jeff Bridges

Okay Mario, Bridges is correctly rated. ;-)

Bridges: Oscar (Crazy Heart). Another 26 wins & 39 nominations

Daniels: Nominated for 3 Golden Globes. Another 8 wins & 12 nominations

Bridges wins, but he did start making movies a full ten years before Daniels. Daniels is great in Terms of Endearment, Purple Rose of Cairo, Something Wild, 2 Days in the Valley (underrated), Pleasantville, & The Lookout. Great Bridge’s work I haven’t seen listed yet included: Bad Company, Fat City, The Last American Hero, The Iceman Cometh, Stay Hungry, Cutter & Bone, Jagged Edge, Wild Bill, The Contender (Not a great movie, but Bridges steals it as the President!) , & King Kong. I did see Fearless listed and would like to add that it’s one of his very best!

Sean gets the bonus question (Which bad material did Bridges performance elevate?)
correct: The Contender

Please. Bridges! I mean he’s the dude!
I also like Jeff Goldblum more than Jeff Daniels.

Jeffrey Wright was terrific in Basquiat and made a great Felix Leiter in Casino Royale!

This is a funny idea for a thread and I’ll have to get back to it more in depth next week. I think both Bridges and Daniels are severely underrated (although Bridges seems to finally be getting some recognition over the past four or five years).

I agree that Jeff Daniels is a superb actor and very good at playing both comedy and drama. I saw him last year on stage in Carnage and he was superb.

I believe Jeff Goldblum needs some serious recognition for his work on The Fly alone. Speaking of Cronenberg…

This thread is fun, but since I hate fun I won’t be participating.

That being said, I much prefer Bridges simply because he’s more charismatic (let’s define that one, Bob), although I always loved Daniels in the TV movie The Crossing (he played George Washington, speaking of presidents).

But of all the Jeffs—at least the ones I can think of now—give me the endearingly awkward Goldblum.

Now, if someone would only start a ‘The Best Udo’ thread…

On second thought, let’s not go to this thread. Tis a silly place.

@Robert

Okay, so do I get to ask what the criteria for a normal appearance is or does everyone know that but me?

Well, I think that questioning my use of “normal” is entirely valid, if that’s what you mean. I can only say that I, personally, think Daniels’ looks and charisma are different from the hot male stars like Clooney, Pitt, Cruise, et al. I think I’m more likely to see someone like Daniels in my workplace than someone like Pitt or Cruise.

I get to say Bridges is slightly more versatile and then list his films, right?

Of course, and if you could say what you liked about each performance that would be great, too.

We have to agree the material is bad and then that your Jeff elevated it.
So my question: now that the film (or material) is elevated, is the film still bad or just the material of the film?

I think it would depend on the film. But do you find this notion of one filmmaker “elevating a film” problematic? Can’t a director elevate a bad script or any other filmmaker elevating a movie in some fashion?

@Joks

Sorry Jazz, i’m not that emotionally committed to the position to argue any further! ;-)

Booo! :)

I agree with you that Crazy Heart was overrated, just an average tele movie imo. and his performance was decent, but nothing special. Rourke in The Wrestler was much better.

I agree with this.

I will say, however, that i like The Big Lebowski and Last Picture Show more than any film that Daniels has been in.
but Bridges isn’t the only thing going for those films though, not by a long shot.

Right, so I don’t think you can penalize Daniels if he delivers a solid performance in a mediocre film.

@Brad

…but I’ve also never seen him dominate a film. That’s not necessarily a bad thing for a reliable character actor.

Right. He’s probably not as charismatic an actor as Bridges—Bridges is more of movie star, but that doesn’t make him better, just different, imo.

Bridges had stages though. Starting out playing the young hotshot kid in the seventies and then moving onto Michael Douglas type roles in the 80’s, none of this was any preparation for The Dude. Has there ever been a more masterful comic performance by a modern actor not known for comedies? Now he’s a pleasure to watch as grizzled old Robert Duval types.

I’m pretty much with you, except the last line. I don’t think the roles he’s played recently have been so great.

@HoL

This thread is fun, but since I hate fun I won’t be participating.

You really need to work on this, man.

But of all the Jeffs—at least the ones I can think of now—give me the endearingly awkward Goldblum.

I forgot to mention that I really like Jeff Goldblum.

Jeff Daniels was terrific on Broadway in God of Carnage, later adapted for the film Carnage directed by Roman Polanski. Christoph Waltz played the Daniels role in the film, though I suspect that was mostly for the marquee value. Nothing against Waltz — I think he’s a terrific actor. Daniels has probably lost a lot of his cinematic cachet since those heady days of Something Wild, Terms of Endearment and The Purple Rose of Cairo.

Personally, I figured he was pretty much done after Speed (1994).

Jeff Bridges is damned fun to watch in most everything he does, whether Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, The Big Lebowski, or even a noisy flick like iron Man.

I pretty much agree with everything Jazz said on the first page. Daniels has a very diverse body of work and to go from Dumb and Dumber to The Squid and the Whale is very impressive. I also agree that I prefer Bridges when he was younger. Although he was the best thing about the awful Contender, lately he’s beeen playing too many Dude-type roles.

@Cteve

Daniels actually played both roles on Broadway. You are right that in the original Broadway run, he played the Waltz role (and this is the role I saw him play when they came to LA). But after that initial run on Broadway, he later played the John C. Reilly role.

That’s how versatile Daniels is!

PS- The fact that we have gone this long without anyone mentioning Arachnophobia is a bloody shame.

My personal favorite Jeff.

@ Santino: Good catch. I had forgotten that he switched the roles. I saw the production when Daniels was performing with Gandolfini and Marcia Gay Harden in October 2009. What did you think of Polanski’s adaptation?

@Cteve

I liked Polanski’s film a lot. I actually preferred the film cast to the Bway cast but only because I think Gandolfini was out of his league. I thought Reilly did a much better job of handling the comedy and drama.

It was really interesting seeing Waltz do something very different with the role compared to Daniels. Both were terrific but very different.

@Santino.

Good point on Reilly, who I think is underrated.

Gandolfini got the Broadway part, I suspect, because he was hot coming off the Sopranos and he does working-class shlub pretty well. Plus, he lives within 15 blocks of the theater district…so I guess he could just walk to work. Ha.

As for Polanski’s film, I thought the director did an exceptional job of working the camera to alleviate some of the static of filming essentially a one-set play.

Waltz is a damn dynamo and easily the best part of Carnage, though Kate Winslett was a riot and Jodie Foster maybe had the most difficult role — transforming from the most to the least likeable character. Anyway, that was my take.

Waltz is phenomenal. He may be the best actor I’ve seen since Gary Oldman. He is certainly my principal reason for wanting to see Django Unchained.

^I agree on all counts!