The Believer. 4.5 out of 5 pickles. I want to give it 5 because it so satisfied my sensibilities, but if I am to be as objective as I can be, it was not a perfect movie. I'm buying it and watching it again numerous times, I'm sure.
Ryan Gosling's performance was un#*!$&^$ing believable. The scene at the table with the Times reporter? That was when I first got it, got what he'd been doing all along. I wasn't completely buying him because of his speech pattern, and then! I recognized that he'd had a hint of Yiddish cadence in his speech all along - disguised in street slang.
Re speech (a skipable rant): Pitt in Interview with the Vampire, his speech was comical it was so out of whack with who he was supposed to be. It was ridiculous (I think of that often for some odd reason). Really turned me off to him for a long time. He sounded like an idiot and quite honestly, he's not all that hot as far as I'm concerned. And Malkovich, he always sounds like he's reading his lines. Either his mouth is not too nimble or his brain is soft. He's totally overrated as far as I'm concerned, anyway. I never buy him in roles unless that garbled oddness adds to his character. Meryl Streep can't deliver a line right half the time either. Once in awhile I like her but mostly, she's too studied and her lips don't work right. They're tight yet mumbly resulting in indistinct pronunciation that's supposed to be feminine or something. She's been matronly since she was young in The Deer Hunter. Her acting leaves me cold (though, I do think I liked her in Silkwood). So many people I know LOVE her but I just don't like her at all. So, as you can see, I'm out on a limb here all by my lonesome! Been wanting to say those things for a long time - lol.
Back to Gosling: WHAT A PERFORMANCE!!!!!!!!!! Really fascinating writing, too. I drank every syllable and absorbed every photon of The Believer and it still wasn't enough. This is not a watch once movie.
THANK - YOU - JUNK!
