It’s a mixed bag when comedic actors and dramatic actors try their hand at each other’s trade. Dramatic actors who appear in comedies usually find that being funny is harder than it seems, while comedic actors have a difficult time getting audiences to take them seriously. Both kinds of acting require an entirely different skillset, but a handful of truly gifted performers have mastered them both.
Sometimes, a comedic actor giving a dramatic performance will fail miserably and learn to stay in their lane. Other times, they’ll surprise audiences everywhere with a powerful turn. Here are the best and worst dramatic performances by comedic actors.
Best: Adam Sandler As Barry Egan In Punch-Drunk Love
Although his comedies have been very hit-and-miss, Adam Sandler is a surprisingly consistent dramatic actor. He delivered fantastic turns in Noah Baumbach’s soulful family drama The Meyerowitz Stories and the Safdie brothers’ two-hour anxiety attack Uncut Gems, but his finest dramatic turn is still in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love.
Barry Egan is not a traditional romantic lead — quite the opposite, actually, as he suffers from serious emotional issues — but Sandler plays him as quintessentially human.
Worst: Seth Rogen As Steve Wozniak In Steve Jobs
Seth Rogen has given audiences plenty of hilarious comedies, but his first foray into dramatic acting, playing Steve Wozniak in Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs, wasn’t a huge success. While fellow comics like Robin Williams and Adam Sandler successfully shed their comedic personas to embody their dramatic characters, it was hard to see Wozniak and not just see Rogen.
It doesn’t help that he was surrounded by nuanced turns by such gifted dramatic actors as Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet, and Michael Stuhlbarg, who all disappear into their roles.
Best: Melissa McCarthy As Lee Israel In Can You Ever Forgive Me?
After being nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her star-making, scene-stealing turn in Bridesmaids, Melissa McCarthy received a more-than-deserved Best Actress nod for Can You Ever Forgive Me?, a biopic based on the life of Lee Israel, who forged letters by dead authors to make a quick buck.
McCarthy captured Israel’s moral complexity perfectly, bringing a sympathetic angle to an almost unsympathetic character.
Worst: Owen Wilson As Jack Dwyer In No Escape
Although Owen Wilson has delivered interesting dramatic acting in Behind Enemy Lines, Wonder, and Marley & Me (not to mention a number of Wes Anderson roles that skirt the line between comedy and tragedy, like his character in The Darjeeling Limited), his attempt at an action-oriented performance was a let-down.
It didn’t help that the script for No Escape was a generic slog full of one-dimensional characters — including the one Wilson played — but the actor didn’t do his thinly drawn role any favors.
Best: Bill Murray As Bob Harris In Lost In Translation
Sofia Coppola relentlessly pursued Bill Murray for a year, as she’d written the role of faded movie star Bob Harris in Lost in Translation specifically for him and didn’t believe anyone else could pull it off quite as well.
When Murray accepted the offer, he didn’t disappoint. This performance set the stage for his latter-day career, exploring the melancholic side of his biting comedic persona as aging characters in bittersweet movies by auteurs like Wes Anderson and Jim Jarmusch.
Worst: Amy Schumer As Amanda Doster In Thank You For Your Service
Jason Hall’s directorial debut Thank You for Your Service tackles a very important issue — soldiers who suffer from post-traumatic stress after returning from war — and for the most part, it explores its subject in a powerful, deeply sympathetic way.
A lot of the cast members give fine performances, including Miles Teller and Haley Bennett, but one actor who sticks out is comedian Amy Schumer, giving her first (and hopefully last) ham-fisted dramatic performance.
Best: Jamie Foxx As Ray Charles In Ray
The depth of Jamie Foxx’s talent is unfathomable. He’s a great musician, a great comedian, and a great actor, which he’s proved with many performances, but none more than his Oscar-winning portrayal of Ray Charles in the biopic Ray.
Foxx played three decades of Charles’ life and nailed every single scene. Unlike most actors who portray musicians, Foxx comes close to capturing the unique charm and energy of the real Ray Charles.
Worst: Dane Cook As Ryan In Answers To Nothing
A movie with relatively no plot like Answers to Nothing, which revolves around a group of characters aimlessly wandering around in search of answers to life’s questions, requires seriously nuanced actors to bring its characters to life and keep its audience engaged.
Anyone who has had the misfortune of watching Dane Cook’s stand-up could suspect that he does not have that required nuance. And anyone who has had the misfortune of watching Answers to Nothing would have those suspicions confirmed.
Best: Robin Williams As Sean Maguire In Good Will Hunting
“It’s not your fault...” The late, great Robin Williams more than earned his Oscar for playing Sean Maguire in Good Will Hunting. The role was only written so that a Hollywood A-lister could be attached to a movie starring then-unknowns Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, but Williams ably stole the show.
Williams is one of the greatest improvisers in the history of comedy, and he masterfully transferred those skills to drama in Good Will Hunting, ad-libbing some of the film’s most powerful dialogue.
Worst: Mike Myers As Steve Rubell In 54
Years before he would pay homage to the long-gone days of disco music with the third Austin Powers movie’s Goldmember character, Mike Myers gave his first (and, for almost a decade, only) dramatic performance in the role of Steve Rubell in 54, a highly fictionalized dramatization of the Studio 54 nightclub’s heyday.
Myers’ performance was one of the few positive notes in some critics’ reviews, but that’s only because the rest of the movie — particularly its disjointed use of artistic license — is just that bad.