Sep 29 2008
Okay, I have a review of an actor this time an actor that I never liked until I saw his performance in a small 1991 film called FINAL ANALYSIS, I am talking about the notorious Eric Roberts. My stereotype of him started when I saw him in the Mickey Rourke film THE POPE OF GRENWICH VILLAGE. He played the brother of star Mickey Rourke and I felt his performance was in a word: whiney and aggravating. The next film I saw him in was the Jon Voight prison film RUNAWAY TRAIN in it where Eric Roberts stars as Jon Voight’s partner in crime as they escape a maximum-security prison. In that film he plays a very annoying henchman who again is extremely whinny. So those films to me paint him to be the same kind of actor throughout, not saying those films were bad in any respects but Eric Roberts kept repeating phrases through out each film to get particularly under anyone’s nerves (“They took my thumbs Charlie! Or “Manny!”)
Then the 1990’s happened and to contrast his sister, he began to be type cast as the heavy/villain.
However, in FINAL ANALYSIS, the part he played actually showed the synergy he had for playing the part of Jimmy Evans, the bad guy.
There is a part in the film where Kim Basinger who plays the part of Roberts’s wife has a confrontation with the evil Roberts. The scene takes place in a bathroom where Roberts has just taken a bath and by a few choice words in a dialogue and subtle glances he forces Basinger to be submissive and to perform a sexual act on him. Then later there is a scene between the two of them in a restaurant where Roberts delivers some of the best lines of the film, discussing the meal that they are eating. The scene is stellar acting school stuff. The film did get poor notices but I feel that it is a solid thriller after all these years, and if you look close enough you’ll see that most of the supporting parts are played by big stars of today (Uma Thurman from KILL BILL, Paul Guiloyle from CSI). Mr. Roberts I apologize greatly for calling you stereotypical, whinny and annoying, you have the power to control a scene which is a crucial for any actor. Mr. Roberts’s most recent credit is that of playing Thompson on NBC’s HEROES.
On a side note his daughter is an actress as well, Eliza Roberts and starred in such films as NANCY DREW(2007).
