Ray Liotta
Ray Liotta does the wild-eyed, hysterical maniac act so well that it darn well pigeon-holed him after a number of terrific performances early in his career (Something Wild and Goodfellas specifically.) Frankly, he probably would have been more suited to play The Joker than Jack Nicholson in the first Tim Burton Batman film. As much as I like Nicholson, looking at that performance now, there’s a lot of “hey look what I’m doing” in his performance. Liotta could have projected more of the “maybe he’s really crazy” vibe that Heath Ledger mastered in the latest one.
Once casting directors had Liotta pegged as that lunatic guy, he began to appear more frequently in really bad movies playing at that volume and intensity. As he result, he’s got a few films on his resume like Turbulence, which just demonstrates that its hard to write memorable scenes with a character who starts the take at level 11.
He’s capable of small, nuanced performances (see Dominick and Eugene, for instance,) but he’s mostly going to remembered, I think, for those early Barry McNutflake roles.
Ten best roles
10) Slow Burn 9) Corrina Corrina 8) Phoenix 7) Identity 6) Field of Dreams 5) Copland 4) Something Wild 3) Narc 2) Dominick and Eugene 1) Goodfellas
Percentile rating
89.09
June 7th, 2009 at 1:57 am
I think he played an atheist in Corrina Corrina. I like him for that. Not many atheists in popular culture. Of course he starred and excelled in my all time favorite Goodfellas.