Written by Chris Snellgrove | Published
Most people think that Ryan Reynolds is a master of comedy, especially since we’ve all been blown away by the Hollywood comedic man Deadpool Wolverine. However, he was recently called out on dead pool. The Marvel Cinematic Universe actor responded with a post about how hard it is to do comedy as drama, but here’s the thing: Ryan Reynolds is completely wrong for trying to champion comedy.
Ryan Reynolds continues on defense
In X’s original post, @drivcmycar referenced the movie We live in timealong with how Andrew Garfield will tell Variety about how he portrays the heartbreaking struggle of a husband whose wife decides to give up cancer treatment along with how the other actor talks about playing Deadpool. This prompted Ryan Reynolds to post a lengthy response “In Defense of Comedy” in which he claimed that it’s no less difficult than drama but we don’t notice because “comedy is meant to look and feel easy” and drama isn’t. However, as far as the insanely successful funnyman is concerned, we have to disagree. Good drama acting has always been harder than good comedy acting and always will be.
Ryan Reynolds’ basic thesis here is that drama is designed for us to “see it as hard” and that comedy requires just as much work but we don’t notice because it seems easy and effortless when pulled off the right way. However, you can see how wrong he is just by thinking about your own life. For example, you’ve almost certainly made people laugh from time to time with a good joke, but how often have you moved people to tears with a display of raw emotion?
Ryan Reynolds is obviously a funny guy. He’s proven with the Deadpool films that comedy and superhero cinema go together like peanut butter and jelly. But as Deadpool, he doesn’t even need to show his face most of the time, and the beginning and end of his funny scenes just involve combining some corny quips and body language. Even if we limit ourselves to the Marvel movie universe, it’s clear that his performance in Deadpool can’t really compare to the pathos of Anthony Hopkins as Odin, the mania of Willem Dafoe as the Green Goblin, or Robert Downey Jr.’s complete transformation into Iron Man.
Strong dramatic competition
If we go outside the world of superhero cinema, Ryan Reynolds’ defense of comics becomes even more ridiculous. Does anyone think it’s harder to tell a funnier joke behind a funnier mask than it was for Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln or Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles? Is it harder to make fun of chimichanga than Denzel Washington’s performance in it? Training day Or for Tom Hanks to perform in it forrest gump?
These actors were all Best Actor winners, which brings me to my final point: How many times has anyone won an Oscar for Best Actor for a funny role, let alone a superhero role? The closest we’ve come in recent years is to Joaquin Phoenix winning an Oscar jokerIronically, he earned this award by showing off his dramatic chops instead of just telling jokes. His performance in this film is proof that great actors can be funny and dramatic at the same time, and Ryan Reynolds should note that Phoenix’s dramatic moments clearly took a lot more intensity (“maximum effort,” if you will) than the comedy Deliberately bad improvisation. procedures.
This is not meant to be a criticism of Ryan Reynolds himself. He’s a comedy legend Deadpool Wolverine It’s still one of the best movies we’ve seen in years. But making an audience laugh is the easiest form of acting, especially when you have a team of production experts and the biggest studio in Hollywood helping at every step. Until he becomes like Jim Carrey and shows us that he has true depth and range as an actor, he will remain a clown who simply dreams of being something more.