10 Best Unexpected Comedic Performances From Serious Actors, According To Reddit
There are certain actors who fans can rely on to deliver a hilarious performance in a comedy. But sometimes, the funniest performances are the ones that audiences don't expect. For instance, when an actor is usually known for dramatic work or intense tough-guy roles suddenly lets loose with a wonderful silly role, it is hard to resist.
For some of these more serious actors, one opportunity to show their funny side helped to launch the new comedic era of their career. For others, they simply delivered the big laughs with one role before returning to their dramatic career. Yet they all left a lasting impact with fans.
10 George Clooney - O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
George Clooney always brought a certain level of charm to his movie roles that could have a comedic quality to them. But while he has lots of intense roles like his Oscar-winning turn in Syriana and his breakout television role on ER, he proved he was willing to be a complete goofball when he teamed up with the Coen Brothers.
O Brother, Where Art Thou? finds Clooney playing the leader of a trio of escaped convicts. With his hilarious performance as the fast-talking criminal, one Redditor felt Clooney did "the best job anyone could" with the wacky role.
9 Dustin Hoffman - Tootsie (1982)
Dustin Hoffman cemented himself as one of the best actors of his generation with roles in Midnight Cowboy and Marathon Man. Hoffman brought the same dedication to his dramatic roles to his comedic role in the hilarious comedy Tootsie.
Hoffman plays a struggling actor who disguises himself as a woman to get a role on a soap opera. It is perhaps Hoffman's intense acting style that makes the role work so well and made the movie a hugely acclaimed comedy. Redditor VictorBlimpmuscle praised it as "one of the greatest acting performances in any film ever."
8 Mark Wahlberg - The Other Guys (2010)
Though Mark Wahlberg pops up in a lot of comedies these days, there was a time when the actor was mostly known for his tough-guy roles in crime and action movies. That persona was used for his role alongside Will Ferrell in the buddy cop movie The Other Guys.
Ferrell brings his usually comedic skills to the role but Wahlberg surprised many by being just as funny as the short-tempered and childish detective. Redditor jaf27 found it to be a "surprisingly funny and effortless performance."
7 Leonardo DiCaprio - The Wolf Of Wall Street (2013)
Given that their previous collaborations included hard-hitting dramas like Shutter Island and Gangs of New York, few people would have predicted Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese would team up for a comedy. And even fewer people could have predicted how funny DiCaprio would be.
DiCaprio puts on a tour-de-force performance in The Wolf of Wall Street as Jordan Belfort, an ambitious and immoral stock trader. DiCaprio matches the wild energy of the movie and one Redditor remembered the famous "lemon" scene as the "hardest I've ever laughed at a cinema."
6 Jason Statham - Spy (2015)
Jason Statham emerged as one of the most prevalent action movie stars of the 21st century and found a very comfortable niche in these types of movies. While those roles rarely required him to stretch his acting muscles too much, Statham surprised many with a hilarious performance in Spy.
The action-comedy stars Melissa McCarthy as an office worker in a spy agency who is forced to go on a dangerous mission. Statham has a scene-stealing role as another over-the-top agent who is less intelligent than he thinks. Redditor Nachti was impressed with Statham's turn saying "he was the best part of the movie."
5 Tom Cruise - Tropic Thunder (2008)
Though one of the biggest movie stars of all time, Tom Cruise has mostly veered away from comedy, save for movies like Jerry Maguire that combined laughs and drama. However, Cruise fully embraced being silly in an unforgettable supporting role in Tropic Thunder.
In the movie about the making of a Hollywood war movie gone wrong, Cruise plays the foul-mouthed and constantly enraged studio executive Les Grossman. Nearly unrecognizable in the role, Cruise fully commits to the wildness of the role and even adds what Redditor Crab_Johnson calls "such a good dance scene."
4 Channing Tatum - 21 Jump Street (2012)
While Channing Tatum's earlier career was not filled with dramatic roles, he was mostly being pushed towards action movies and teen romance movies. Therefore, he seemed like an odd choice to star opposite Jonah Hill in the big-screen adaptation of 21 Jump Street.
Despite some questioning the casting, Tatum showed a new side of his talents, giving a hugely entertaining performance as the dim-witted undercover cop, Jenko. Even though Tatum was the less experienced comedic actor, Redditor sayhellotojenn felt he was "even funnier than Jonah Hill."
3 Brad Pitt - Burn After Reading (2008)
The Coen Brothers seem to have a talent for bringing out the silly side in typically dramatic actors. Clooney's Hollywood buddy was another acclaimed dramatic actor who gave a hilarious against-type performance in the Coens' Burn After Reading.
Pitt plays an enthusiastic but incredibly simple gym employee who gets wrapped up in a supposed espionage plot. Redditor Murray96 found that Pitt was "surprisingly effective as the idiotic personal trainer" and his role was made even more memorable with one of the funniest death scenes of all time.
2 Alan Rickman - Galaxy Quest (1999)
Alan Rickman was an actor who brought class and gravitas to just about every role, including his most well-known performances in Die Hard and the Harry Potter franchise. But one of his best roles was in the underrated sci-fi comedy Galaxy Quest.
The movie followed a group of actors from a canceled sci-fi show who are mistaken for real intergalactic heroes by a race of desperate aliens. Rickman plays a Shakespearean-trained actor who laments being typecast as an alien doctor. One Redditor found that his dry and hilarious performance "truly elevates that film."
1 Ryan Gosling - The Nice Guys (2016)
Ryan Gosling cemented himself as one of the most talented young actors in Hollywood with challenging roles in movies like Blue Valentine and Half Nelson. While he still sticks to a lot of dramatic work, The Nice Guys really showed how funny he could be.
The crime-comedy stars Gosling and Russell Crowe as two detectives teaming up to solve a missing person's case. Gosling's bumbling and disheveled performance was "absolutely hilarious according to one Redditor.