I think he is finally coming into his own. How Do You Know and Midnight in Paris are his two best films and he was the best thing in them.
I say his schtick either works or doesn’t depending whether he’s got a strong director to bring out the best in him. Wes Anderson did that. Particularly in Bottle Rocket (which seems his most “pure” performance) and The Royal Tenenbaums. Yet I don’t think he’s ever been better than as the Woody surrogate in Midnight in Paris, which I have gushed enough about in other threads. That said, he makes a lot of crap movies as well.
I loved Midnight in Paris. I read that Woody Allen had imagined the part for a dark haired, Jewish. New York type- closer to a younger version of himself- and when recommended Owen Wilson, he initially thought it wouldn’t work.
It turned out brilliantly. Allen’s voice is so distinct in his writing that most of his protagonists can’t avoid having something of a Woody Allen impression come through in their performance. Filtering his words through Owen Wilson’s laid-back California vibe allows you to hear them in a fresh way. Clearly, Wilson is intelligent enough that he also makes the dialogue plausible. I really hope Allen uses him again.
Den, I thought he ruined How Do You Know, which was a film I finally liked Witherspoon in (aside from Man in the Moon and Freeway), and even though Rudd brought his same old, same old, I preferred his to Wilson’s.
I have yet to see Midnight in Paris, I’l catch when it hits DVD.
I know Wilson has some talent, but I think he wastes it on crap too often.
nah his laid back approach was perfect counter balance to the nerosis of Rudd and Reese. I also thought his character had a great attitude about things.
Well, I liked him in Midnight in Paris and, infrequently, his earlier work, but yeah … he’s an actor whose career is, undeniably, based on repetition and very little deviation from that. So, in order for actors such as him to prove effective, they need a good script and a good director who knows how to take the ‘same old same old’ and present it from a different angle.
Vince Vaughn is funny?
Vaughn has his moments, Swingers and most notably in Dodgeball, plus he outshone Wilson in Wedding Crashes.
Uli³Cain
I needed mind some of Wilson’s earlier work and actually liked the Minus Man, but now he is just uninteresting and I would choose to avoid any film he may be in.
To compare him to Vaughn or Stiller or even to his brother Luke, he just seems to be sliding along as the same old same old and refuses to take any chances — Vaughn has almost done the same, but at least he’s funny.
So, what say you all?