Jack Nicholson is simply

I want you to hold it between your knees

He's the same person in every movie. Never a surprise or delight.

Can't stand him.

Agree that he’s the same in everything. Same with Alan Rickman.

Same here r2, don’t like him and his obnoxious overacting.

Very one-note actor. And a real douche offscreen.

He's never played a homosexual character, has he?

…and physically repulsive

And he and Angelica Huston covered for Roman Polanski when he raped that underage girl IIRC.

The "Jack Nicholson is the same in every role" line is every bit as tired as "Click click click" from the Meryl-bashers. No one who says it could possibly have paid attention while watching him in REDS and CHINATOWN and THE FORTUNE and THE PLEDGE and PRIZZI'S HONOR.

Could he phone it in sometimes and/or coast on mannerisms? Sure. But he's given any number of astonishing performances, and he's shown much more range than most give him credit for.

Almost as fug as Matt Gaetz.

Aunt Bee kept him from going to the hoosegow.

R9 Thank you.

Excellent, R9.

Last week I caught Something's Gotta Give on cable. Have seen it several times but I still laugh out loud and find some moments between Nicholson and Keaton very touching. There's simply no one else like him. When he plays a role it's his and you can't imagine anyone else doing it.

I used to feel the same way about, that he always was Jack Nicholson in everrything and kind of tiring. But it was his role in Broadcast News that really impressed me. Although mostly a cameo, he was so different than anything else I'd seen him in, playing a Network Anchor, that I changed my opinion of him.

R14 right that’s what makes him so great.

A piece of shit.

Hate him

Doesn’t he beat up whores or something?

I can't stand the guy but oddly he's in several of my all-time favorite movies, so there must be something to him.

Good examples, r9, honestly. I would argue in those roles he was a very serviceable actor but not the ones that won him accolades and prizes.

Early in his career he got extremely lazy and emulated the craziness, hamminess over the top thing. Basically either the Craziness of The Shining or demented, angry, grumpiness. He knew this worked and never gave another good or sober performance. No trying, no nuance.

Frankly, i get that some people enjoy this kind of performance and find it admirable. There are some over the top performances i enjoy, and he is not the only actor with a limited range, but i particularly dislike his schtick.

^ sorry am r4

Yes, same character in everything. But so were so many revered actors.

Also, he fully embraced a toxic masculinity character he never abandoned or tried something different. Few actors did this. I realize we shouldn’t consider the actor as the character but in his case i think it was too cose for comfort.

R15 I thought he played off his own persona in BN, and was definitely a cameo he just coasted through, similar to his one in the Evening Star. That being said, r9 is right. He can be tremendous in different roles. I would include About Schmidt and Carnal Knowledge to this list. Movies are definitely less fun since he’s retired.

He's a good actor but I never think about him.

Never liked him. I'm glad he's retired. Tiresome and one-note in everything he did.

All of them, ALL of them - Nicholson, Pacino, Hoffman, going back to Gable - are hammy. Stars are hammy.

Nonsense, R28. You're confusing star quality with being hammy, a word used to describe bad acting.

R2- HERE'S JOHNNY !!

Ever since I saw him in the Shining I think of him as being variations on a theme.

R28- Hoffman was so full of himself after appearing in The Graduate. In Midnight Cowboy he's crossing the street as Ratso Rizzo and says I'm walking here. He should of said with his ego- I'm playing a character here! Jon Voight's performance was excellent in Midnight Cowboy and Dustin's Performance was HAMMY.

R14- I know that movie is for a mainstream mass audience and for FRAUS but it is a movie I like and can watch it over and over. The funniest scene is when Jack sees Diane naked and consoles her by saying-

All I saw was your TITS.

Then she screams.

Nicholson and Pacino are the absolute hammiest actors ever.

Agree with those who don't like Nicholson. He's a ham, not actor. Always seems to be glancing at the camera smugly to announce how cool he is.

He's a very, very good actor and I enjoy watching him, but he is always Jack Nicholson.

"About Schmidt" is a wonderful movie, and he makes it.

He gives a very subtle, un-Nicholson performance in REDS.

He was also OK in The Border, from the year after Reds.

He is a magnificent actor. Too many movies to mention. It’s so easy to repeat platitudes like he is always Jack, etc.

I miss his performances. Who are today’s actors ? Zac Efrain, Jacke G. None can hold a candle to Jack, Pacino, etc.

Just stop, you useless whiners

He was very good playing a neurotic, OCD character in As Good As It Gets.

True, R39, today’s actors suck. But that’s the same thing they said in the 1970s comparing those actors to the 1930s-40s actors.

My two favorite Nicholson performances are "Hoffa" and "Terms of Endearment".

Still, I do wonder what Burt Reynolds would've done with the character of Garrett Breedlove in TOE.

Reynolds claimed he was offered the role first and called himself an idiot for turning it down.

R42, Happy to see your signature line again, Della. I know you haven't been signing your posts, but I can still recognize them for your perceptiveness.

R42, I really think it would depend on the wig Burt chose.

Smoooches, Doll at r43.

Yeah, r42. It totally escaped me that Reynolds didn't have hair until he died, and the DL thread informed me.

Jack was perfect in Cuckoo's Nest and 100% deserved the Oscar he received.

He would be my go to actor if I were looking for a creepy asshole Jack Nicholson type.

R46 agreed. But he could’ve won doing anything that year. He was on his fifth nomination and had probably came extremely close to beating Art Carney the year before.

r25 you are correct, he played more of a shlub in About Schmidt that was different for him

I bet he had an elephant-like trunk cock back in the day.

[quote]Jack was perfect in Cuckoo's Nest and 100% deserved the Oscar he received.

He was excellent, but Al Pacino deserved the Oscar that year for Godfather Part II.

Smell you, OP.

R51, Pacino lost that year to Art Carney for Harry and Tonto.

jack is definitely one of the most MEMORABLE. and yes, he worked well on set. still, greatest actor, no

R34- Another total HAM was Robin Williams.