Christine Champ,
Sep 12, 2008
With The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Burn After Reading coming soon to a theater near you, it seems a perfect time to talk Brad's best and worst (or just meh).
DISCLAIMER: Before you skewer me for my picks or omissions, keep in mind it's all about which Pitt you prefer. Titillating eye candy? Artfully insane? Virtuosic oddball like no one those of us who don't frequent mental wards have ever seen before or will likely see again? This is merely my humble opinion ...
Top 5
Fight Club
If you wake up at a different time, in a different place, can you wake up as a different person? Yes, if you're Mr. Pitt. In his Tyler Durden we trust. He's what every spiritually dry Ikea-worshipping, desk-job drone wants to be. We believe in his inspired insanity when he tells us he's making dynamite from soap, and that beating the beejezus out of each other is the key to our salvation.
12 Monkeys
Nobody does demented genius and lunatic revolutionary so well. And with such humor. It almost makes me question the sanity behind Brad's movie mask. And his dialogue delivery, once again, has a character all its own.
A River Runs Through It
Pitt plays rebellious reverend's son Paul Maclean and his fall from innocence with the natural grace and hushed beauty of a fly-fishing cast. No stud-boating, no madness, just ACTING! Poignant and powerful.
Snatch
Most actors can pull off the more mainstream accents -- such as British, Irish, or Scottish -- but I dare any of them to parlez Pikey better than Pitt. That alone should be enough to earn this flick a top spot. Add to that a performance of a double-dealing, double-talking (and irresistibly incomprehensible), bare-knuckle boxer that's undeniably hilarious.
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Brad's Jesse James is a superior bastard. Not because he's expectedly badass, but because he draws a deft map of a middle-aged murderer's journey from charismatic killer to doomed paranoid and infamous ghost. Somehow Pitt manages to haunt the role of Jesse James.
Honorable Must Mention
Seven
Proof that Brad can play an ordinary Joe fumbling in the nightmare-filled darkness of a world whose moral fibers are frayed, as well as mouth-watering eye candy and an enchanting madman.
Bottom 5
Legends of the Fall
If you like your movies (and your movie actors) like you like your movie popcorn -- rich, golden, buttery, salty, and of course, piping hot -- then you may argue Legends belongs in the top, rather than in the bottom five. Don't get me wrong, a wild, bare-chested, glossy-maned, mountain man can be delicious, but I've seen Brad deliver tastier performances.
Troy
Arguably, in this day and age, there isn't a better model for Hellenic war and leisure wear than Brad. Unfortunately, his acting in this film is as wooden as a Trojan horse. And is it me or does Pitt's Apollo sound more shrimp-on-the-barbie than ancient Greek?
Meet Joe Black
Okay, Joe Black is Death incarnate. But who would've thought Death could be too dead? Isn't Death on holiday? I suppose in the film Susan (aka the love interest) is smitten by the cryptic stranger. But stiffly delivered pregnant pauses meant to seduce on film left me dying for Brad to finally give birth to a Death I could love.
The Mexican
It's a shaggy-dog (or shaggy-boyfriend) story set in an invitingly quirky and complex universe of myths and twists. Sadly, the story eventually seems to get lost, and with it the inspiration evident in Pitt's better roles.
Johnny Suede
Rockabilly rebel in black suede shoes, Brad's Johnny Suede is as blank as the stares of movie audiences wondering what to make of this story. Plus, Johnny Depp did the pompadour hairdo better in Cry Baby.
