Is Don Cheadle Overrated?

Dre Rivas,  Jul 18, 2007

Don Cheadle is getting good marks this year for two sterling performances in Reign Over Me and in the upcoming Kasi Lemmons film, Talk To Me. I was asked today whether or not I thought Cheadle was overrated or underrated. This is kind of a ridiculous question because I guess it would depend on who you ask. I think the guy is a really good actor. There's little debate there I think. But I guess maybe that's the point.

Now I may know someone who thinks Cheadle is the best actor ever. To that I'd say, "Um, no, his name doesn't end in 'Pacino.'" Or I may know someone that just doesn't give the man any credit to which I'd respond, "Oh yeah? Download Joe Carnahan's Ticker." Perhaps if I took a look at a few of the guy's highlights and a few of his stinkers I can get a better handle on this.

The Highlights:
Devil In A Blue Dress: This is the movie were Don Cheadle first made an impression on me. This was one of those "Whoa, who is this guy?" performances. He's lethal and deadly funny as Mouse, Denzel's troublesome right-hand man.

Traffic: There's a lot of great performances in this flick so it means something that he's actually one of the standouts. His very last scene is one of my favorite moments in the film because it speaks to such a small victory in the grand scheme of things. He kinda knows it, but has no choice but to try and enjoy it.

Hotel Rwanda: Finally, Donny Cheadle gets his Oscar nom. This is a hard movie to watch but it's always engaging because of him. He plays a real-life hero in a perfectly ordinary way. The way it should be.

The Stinkers:
Swordfish: I hated this soulless, glossy movie. Other than a pretty nifty opening sequence, the only memorable thing was Travolta's hair and that's not a good thing. Cheadle is never really bad in this one. He was collecting a paycheck. Good for him, but he was clearly slumming.

Ocean's Eleven: Now here is a movie I actually really like, I just don't like Cheadle in it. Many of my friends love him in this movie, but the accent never really worked for me for some reason. I warmed up to his character a little in Ocean's Twelve but that "Barney" line is just the pits.

Mission to Mars: Holy Toledo this movie is Bad with a capital "B." Brian De Palma is known to have made a turkey or two, but this movie makes Bonfire of the Vanities look like The Passion of Joan of Arc. I was forced to sit through this twice when I was working for the mouse house back in the day. I would rather have wooden sticks pushed up under my finger nails than sit through it a third time. Having said all that, I can't say I blame Cheadle too much for this one. He's okay in the movie and this project probably sounded a lot better on paper. Kind of like communism, I guess.

Okay, being that the man's stinkers were (for the most part) not his fault and taking into account that I'm guessing most of the general public doesn't even know him by name, I'm going to have to go with underrated with this one. At the very least, the guy is clearly not overrated. I can't name five non-cinephile friends who would know him by name . He would at least have to be a superstar to be overrated, right? And he's clearly not that. Well, not yet. The word on Talk To Me is strong and he might land himself another Oscar nomination. Hmm. Who knows ... maybe over the next few years I'll get so sick and tired of seeing Cheadle nominations that I'll change my tune.

But I doubt it.

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Dre writes three times a week for Film.com. He thinks Joe Versus The Volcano is an underrated flick. E-mail him!